ACL Awards Center of Excellence to Align Health and Social Care

ACL’s Office of Network Advancement (ONA) is announcing a new award to USAging for the Center of Excellence (COE) to Align Health and Social Care: Enhancing Community-Based Aging and Disability Organizations to Improve Access to Long-Term Services and Supports. The project period is September 1, 2023 through August 31, 2026, with first-year funding totaling over $5.5 million. This funding will support the development and enhancement of aging and disability organizations supported by ACL to operate as community care hubs (CCHs). A CCH is a community-focused entity that organizes and supports a network of community-based organizations providing services to address health-related social needs, typically as partners with health care or heath system providers.



Through this award, the COE will collaborate with relevant stakeholders to improve access to long-term services and supports through CCHs as part of a broader No Wrong Door (NWD) System. A central deliverable in year one is to rapidly administer and manage competitive subawards to an estimated 20 disability and aging organizations to improve their NWD access functions — with specific emphasis on the core function of care transitions and CCH capacity to coordinate referrals across health care and social services, as well as supporting individuals transitioning from hospital to home.



The COE will collaborate with ACL and partners to provide technical assistance to support both new and existing CCHs, with an emphasis on organizations in ACL’s aging and disability networks.  



The COE will also participate in an evaluation designed by ACL’s Office of Performance and Evaluation to assess the impact of CCHs on the delivery and coordination of services that address health-related social needs.



For questions contact lauren.solkowski@acl.hhs.gov.