Current & Past Grant Recipients

2005 Grant Recipients

Grantee: Allen Glicksman, Ph.D. and Sanford Pfeffer, Esq.

Philadelphia Corporation for Aging

Project Title: Incapacity and Guardianship: Addressing the additional demand on the court system from increases in the number and complexity of guardianship cases

Grantee: Edith Greene, Ph.D.

Department of Psychology, University of Colorado

Project Title: Legal Assessment of Decision Making in Older Adults

Grantee: Whitney Brosi, Ph.D. & Richard Ingham, Esq.

Whitney Brosi, Assistant Professor of Gerontology, Oklahoma State University

Richard Ingham, Legal Services Developer, Aging Services Division Oklahoma Department of Human Services

Project Title: Legal Service Utilization and Policy Needs of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

2004 Grant Recipients

Grantee: Jennifer Moye, Ph.D.

Director, Geriatric Mental Health Clinic,VA Boston Health Care System and Assistant Professor Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Project Title: Aging, Capacity and Limited Guardianship: A Guide for Judges on Obtaining, Interpreting and Applying Functional Assessments of Capacity for Guardianship

Grantee: Deanne Loonin, J.D. and Elizabeth Renuart, J.D.

National Consumer Law Center

Project Title: Aging into Debt: Solutions for the Growing Threat to Elder Finances

Grantee: Eric Carlson, J.D.

National Senior Citizens Law Center

Project Title: Using Anti-Discrimination Laws to Protect Assisted Living Residents

2003 Grant Recipients

Grantee: Eric Carlson, J.D.

National Senior Citizens Law Center

Project Title: Maximizing Choice or Waiving Rights?

Prepare a comprehensive legal evaluation of the use of negotiated risk agreements in assisted living facilities. The analysis will include a comparison of the different types of negotiated risk agreements and a discussion of the enforceability of waiver-of-liability provisions in negotiated risk.

Grantee: Alfred J. Chiplin, Jr., J.D., M.Div.

Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc.

Project Title: Fashioning a “Transitional Care Services” Benefit in Medicare

This project will review Medicare discharge and other post-hospital requirements to develop a “transitional care” benefit in Medicare.

Grantee: Ellen Martin

Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University, College of Human Environmental Sciences, Gerontology Institute and Department of Human Development and Family Sciences

Project Title: Assessment of and Recommended Changes to Delivery of Medicare Diabetes Prevention and Self-Maintenance Programs for Affected Elderly, Low Income, Uneducated, Black Women

Multidisciplinary and multi-entity collaborative effort to acquire and assess information regarding the need, availability, compliance, and delivery of Medicare's medical nutrition therapy and other diabetes prevention and self-maintenance programs regarding affected elderly, low income, black women, and to make recommendations regarding changes in the delivery of these programs to uneducated or poorly educated sub-populations.

Grantee: Max B. Rothman, JD, LLM

The Center on Aging at Florida International University

Project Title: Judicial Responses to an Aging America

This project is designed to analyze whether and how judicial systems in the US insure that older adults are provided effective access to the courts, including both civil and criminal jurisdictions.

Grantee: Thomas E. Finucane, MD

Johns Hopkins Geriatric Center

Project Title: Weight Loss in Nursing Homes: Policy, Science and Surveyors

The goals of this study are to (i) study the attitudes of Maryland nursing home surveyors toward involuntary weight loss in the long-term care setting; (ii) educate nursing home surveyors on issues related to involuntary weight loss and nutrition in the elderly; and (iii) determine the effect of this educational intervention on the behavior of nursing home surveyors on issues of involuntary weight loss and nutrition.

2002 Grant Recipients

Grantee: Professor Robin Fretwell Wilson & Professor J. Wanzer Drane

Professor Robin Fretwell Wilson, University of South Carolina, School of Law

Professor J. Wanzer Drane, University of South Carolina, School of Public Health

Project Title: Closing the Gaps in the Medicare Assistance Programs for the Low-Income Elderly

Several Medicare assistance programs for low-income elderly are chronically underutilized. This demonstration project will evaluate the effectiveness of a "screen and enroll" outreach effort in which professional students shepherd Medicare beneficiaries through enrollment, and develop a model for application statewide and nationally.

Grantee: Professor Yvonne L. Michael, ScD

School of Community Health, Portland State University

Project Title: Neighborhood, Built Environment, and Health Among Urban Seniors

Research on the relation between neighborhood, built environment, and health will be used to recommend aging-sensitive public policies and programs.

Grantee: Natalie K. Thomas & Richard Ingham

Natalie K. Thomas, Division of Aging Services, Atlanta

Mr. Richard Ingham, Legal Services Developer, Aging Services Division, Oklahoma Department of Human Services

Project Title: State Legal Services Development: Where is It and Where Should It Be?

An indepth study is proposed of each state's Legal Services Development Program as mandated by the Older Americans Act to determine if changes and recommendations are needed to fulfill the original purpose of the program to be the focal point for states' elder rights systems and to ensure that quality legal services programs for persons 60 years of age and older are developed throughout the country.

Grantee: Pamela B. Teaster, Ph.D.

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky

Project Title: End-of-Life Decision Making for Incapacitated Persons: The Resolution of a Life Under Guardianship

The purpose of this study is to understand end-of- life health care for persons under guardianship. Persons under guardianship represent a vulnerable group that has lost the power to make their own decisions, and we have no understanding of how persons in power go about making health care decisions for them.

2001 Grant Recipients

Grantee: Eleanor Crosby & Rose Nathan

Eleanor Crosby, Managing Attorney, Georgia Senior Legal Hotline, Atlanta Legal Aid Society

Rose Nathan, Policy Analyst, Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Project Title: Adult Guardianship in Georgia

Conduct a follow-up survey on adult guardianship cases in Georgia to compare results with previous survey to determine whether interventions have made a difference.

Grantee: Madonna Harrington Meyer

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology; Senior Research Associate, Center for Policy Research, The Maxwell School; Director, University Gerontology Center, Syracuse University

Project Title: Feasibility of a National Medicaid Equalization Law.

Study the passage and impact of the Minnesota Equalization Law on access to nursing homes among Medicaid recipients and assess the feasibility of using it as a model for national legislation.

Grantee: Diane E. Hoffman

Associate Dean for Faculty and External Affairs; Professor of Law & Director, Law & Health Care Program, University of Maryland School of Law

Project Title: Impact of Office of Inspector General Fraud Alerts on Use of Hospice by Nursing Homes.

Survey of all hospice providers in Maryland to determine contractual relationships between hospices and nursing homes over past 5 years; survey of nursing homes in Maryland to determine number of contracts with hospices over the past 5 years.

Grantee: Elizabeth Capezuti

Associate Director for Nursing Science, Emory Center for Health in Aging, Emory University School of Medicine

Project Title: Medico-Legal Analysis of Bed-Related Fall Injuries Among Hospitalized Older Adults.

Evaluate the legal liability issues surrounding hospital fall injuries within the context of current industry practices and new federal regulations.

2000 Grant Recipients

Grantee: Dr. Perry Edelman, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Research, Northwestern University, Institute for Health Services Research & Policy Studies

Project Title: Maximizing Quality of Life in Assisted Living for People With Alzheimer's Disease.

Review state laws and best practices and survey administrators and others to determine to what extent quality of life issues are being addressed for Alzheimer's patients in assisted living facilities; improvements in laws and practices will be recommended.

Grantee: Dr. Kevin D. Frick, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Economics and School of Hygiene and Public Health

Project Title: The Political Economy of the Experience Corps

Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the Experience Corps volunteer program for older individuals in elementary school classrooms, looking at the impact on both the older adults and the students.

Grantee: Alison E. Hirschel, Esq.

Adjunct Professor Law and Attorney at Michigan Poverty Law Program University of Michigan

Project Title: Predicting Nursing Home Closures: A Study of Troubled Nursing Homes.

Use both statistical and qualitative measures to determine what factors are the most likely predictors that a troubled nursing home will fail and what interventions are most likely to save at-risk homes.

Grantee: Anne J. Kisor, Ph.D.

Faculty, School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University

Project Title: Older Homeless Women and Their Social Services Experiences and Needs.

Study older homeless women in Virginia and will develop their profile and the nature and results of their social services encounters. She will recommend improved and/or new programs for homeless older women.

Grantee: Claudia Martin, Esq. & Diego Rodriquez-Pinzon, Esq.

Project Co-Directors, Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Washington College of Law, American University

Project Title: Current International Legal Status of Elderly Rights.

Analyze the current status of elderly rights under international law and make recommendations for protecting and expanding elderly rights.

1999 Grant Recipients

Grantee: Professor Rebecca Dresser

Professor of Law, Washington University, School of Law and Center of Biomedical Ethics

Project Title: Advance Directives in Dementia Research

Establish elements of an informed advanced consent form for dementia research and recommended safeguards for the mentally incapacitated subject during participation in research.

Grantee: Barbara Noah, Esq. & Professor David B. Brushwood

Barbara Noah, Professor of Law, University of Florida, College of Law

Professor David B. Brushwood, Professor of Pharmacy Health Care Administration, University of Florida, College of Pharmacy

Project Title: Predicting and Preventing Unexpected Adverse Drug Reactions by Elderly Patients.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of existing clinical trial requirements in predicting adverse drug reactions. Developed an approach for the identification and prevention of adverse drug reactions in the elderly that reflects the emerging responsibilities of pharmacists and other health care providers.

Grantee: Donna S. Harkness, Esq.

Managing Attorney, Clinical Instructor, University of Memphis, Elder Law Clinic

Project Title: Exploration and Development of New Approaches to Prevention of Predatory Home Mortgage Lending Practices that Victimize Elderly Homeowners.

Project aimed to complement already existing efforts to resolve problems with predatory home equity lending tactics used primarily against the elderly, low-income and largely minority homeowner population served by Memphis Area Legal Services. She advocates legally mandated pre- loan counseling of prospective borrowers by FHA certified counselors and more effective enforcement of existing consumer laws.

Grantee: Professor Adam D. Shapiro, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of North Florida, Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice

Project Title: Estimate the Impact of a New Early Intervention Social Services Program on the Quality of Life for Poor Elderly Citizens.

Continuation of earlier project. Research testing of a new program designed to enhance the quality of life for the poor and disabled elderly in Florida by delivering needed core services earlier. The data analysis clearly demonstrated that earlier delivery of services improves health and overall quality of life for the elderly. The PI plans to now test the new program in other states.

Grantee: Pamela B. Teaster, Ph.D. & Karen A. Roberto, Ph.D.

Pamela B. Teaster, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Center for Gerontology

Karen A. Roberto, Ph.D., Director and Professor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Center for Gerontology

Project Title: Filling the Need: A Comparative Study of Rural and Urban Programs of Public Guardianship.

Examine and compare outcomes of a rural model of public guardianship with the urban model.