Prioritizing Clients
Demand for nutrition services often exceeds the resources available. One way that nutrition programs can work to address this is through prioritization — ensuring that those in the greatest need of limited services will receive them. Programs can use a variety of tools and resources to help them to identify and prioritize clients.
- Voice of Customer: Steps for Conducting Online Feedback Surveys— Step-by-step plan to effectively gather customer feedback using surveys (SCORE, 2019)
- Senior Nutrition Program Quick Guide to Prioritizing Participants — Considerations and next steps for prioritization (ACL)
- Senior Nutrition Program Meal Services Elements for Sustainability: Guide to Prioritizing Clients — Understand the importance of leveraging tools and relationships to meet the growing needs of clients (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center, 2020)
- HDM Assessor Training: Using Enhanced DETERMINE— Training on using the Enhanced DETERMINE (Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources, 2023)
- Enhanced DETERMINE Checklist — Tool assessing nutritional risk (Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources, 2023)
- Expanded Food Security Screener — Prioritization tool that builds on the USDA 6-item Household Food Security Module (University of Maryland)
- Informative Insights: State Unit on Aging Workgroup for Better Wait List Management — Outlines key findings, strategies, and considerations for managing wait lists for State Units on Aging, Area Agencies on Aging, and local service providers (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center, 2025)
- Sample Wait List Notification Letter — Sample notification letter for individuals placed on a waitlist due to limited resources, including guidance on waitlist status and next steps
- Sample Nutrition Services Registration Form — Sample registration form with proposed scoring to help nutrition programs identify and prioritize clients
- Service Utilization Review: Considerations for Area Agencies on Aging — Guidance for Area Agencies on Aging to review service utilization, ensure consumers receive the appropriate support, and identify service needs and gaps