HUD Overcoming Obstacles to Effective Senior Falls Prevention and Coordinated Care

HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) contracted Solutions to assess the obstacles local and state agencies and organizations encounter instituting and implementing policies and procedures to prevent falls by the elderly. The task order funded Solutions to conduct a literature review, recruit and convene a panel of subject matters experts (SMEs), deliver a white paper recommending actions to overcome identified obstacles, and create a toolkit for key stakeholders to reference when they considered or updated their local fall prevention programs.

Solutions recruited 11 SMEs and practitioners from federal and state agencies, nonprofits, academia, and senior advocacy organizations to serve on the Falls Prevention Panel. Solutions individually interviewed panel members about their experiences administering and managing programs, as well as convened two group conference calls that enabled panel members to discuss the barriers they encountered and offer suggestions to overcome the challenges to improve delivery of services and reduce falls among the elderly.

Materials and evidence derived from the literature review, in conjunction with feedback and advice from the expert panel, informed the report to HUD that detailed common obstacles encountered when launching and implementing local falls prevention programs. The report provided examples of best practices identified by the panel along with their recommendations for how best to enhance falls prevention programs and policies.

In addition to the report, Solutions developed a toolkit, based on its consultations with panel SMEs and results from the literature review, to help practitioners and key stakeholders create and/or update policies and programs to reduce the frequency and/or severity of falls among seniors. The toolkit’s policies and programs addressed both public- and private-sector considerations as well as identified some of the essential partners needed to support programs. The toolkit identified some of the most common obstacles to developing, implementing, and coordinating effective senior falls prevention and care policies and programs. It further offered resources to help confront and overcome obstacles to create effective and successful programs.

Interested in Learning More?

Learn more about HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes and access materials produced via this task order: