Bill Text: CA ACR99 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 99 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: PACE Month.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 52-15-1)

Status: (Passed) 2022-02-22 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 5, Statutes of 2022. [ACR99 Detail]

Download: California-2021-ACR99-Chaptered.html

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 99

CHAPTER 5

Relative to the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly.

[ Filed with Secretary of State February 22, 2022. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

ACR 99, Petrie-Norris. PACE Month.

This measure would recognize September 2021 as PACE Month in California.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, The Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) serves frail seniors and disabled adults 55 years of age and older, a population that is growing rapidly and whose impact on health care costs is significant; and

WHEREAS, PACE is a fully integrated model of care that provides comprehensive, individualized care to medically frail seniors from a team of doctors, nurses, therapists, and aides allowing seniors enrolled in PACE to age with dignity at home; and

WHEREAS, On Lok, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary of serving seniors in 2021, created the PACE model of care during the 1980s in response to community concern for the frail, older adults of San Francisco’s Chinatown, North Beach, and Polk Gulch neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, There are 22 PACE programs operating in 65 sites across California today, serving nearly 13,000 participants; and

WHEREAS, All PACE participants are nursing home eligible, have an average of 20 medical conditions, and 33 percent have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, and

WHEREAS, PACE costs up to 42 percent less than the cost of institutional care, saving California taxpayers one hundred and thirty-one million dollars ($131,000,000) in care costs this year; and

WHEREAS, PACE is a cost-effective way to care for those with high care needs without uprooting them from their families and communities; and

WHEREAS, Individuals enrolled in PACE receive all Medicare and Medi-Cal covered items and services and additional support, which promotes well-being and greater independence; and

WHEREAS, PACE promotes equity in health and aging for California’s senior population since 81 percent of PACE participants come from communities of color and the vast majority are eligible for Medi-Cal; and

WHEREAS, PACE assumes full financial risk for all care and medical services, including transportation, meals, day center services, therapies, and long-term care, in return for capitated payments from Medicare and Medi-Cal; and

WHEREAS, PACE adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing home-based care and using telehealth technologies, which kept infection rates nearly 80 percent lower than in nursing homes; and

WHEREAS, A poll conducted by The SCAN Foundation found nearly 90 percent of Californians say it is important to have access to services needed to live at home and in the community as they age to optimize health and quality of life; and

WHEREAS, California’s Master Plan for Aging found that the state’s senior population is growing and diversifying faster than any other age group, with one in four Californians being 60 years of age or older by 2030; and

WHEREAS, Expanding access to PACE is among critical actions needed for California to meet the care challenges that come with this demographic change; and

WHEREAS, The California PACE Association, known as CalPACE, formed in 2003 to support the development, expansion, success, and quality of PACE throughout California; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby recognizes September 2021 as PACE Month in California; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.