Aging Mastery Program shared at Aging in America conference

There are many reasons why The Patterson Foundation (TPF) partners with The National Council on Aging (NCOA), beginning with NCOA’s President and CEO Jim Firman’s unwavering quest to make a positive difference in the lives of older adults. After successfully spearheading and taking BenefitsCheckUp.org to scale, Jim and his team created the Aging Mastery Program (AMP).

AMP is a behavior change incentive program for aging well. It has been piloted in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, with expansion underway in Texas. With TPF’s focus on building connective tissue to create new realities, being an enterprise funder allows us to engage as a thought partner with others in the space.

Along with Jim Firman and his associate Emily Dessem, Ruth Palombo of Tufts Health Plan Foundation and Carol Zernial of WellMed Foundation, TPF presented Rapid-Cycle Innovation: Aging Mastery Program at the American Society on Aging's Aging in America conference in Chicago. Great credit goes to Deborah Gauvreau, an initiative consultant with The Patterson Foundation, who crafted the content. If the reaction during and after the workshop is any indicator of the potential, AMP will be welcomed into communities across the United States.

AMP is being developed using Rapid-Cycle Innovation, which also aligns with TPF tenets of iterative learning and agility through strategy refreshes. Rapid-Cycle Innovation is rarely linear, allowing for local flexibility with evaluations during the activities. With sufficient proof , AMP can drive improvements, market-driven adoption and scale.

The Primary Learning Objectives are:

How can the basic 10-week AMP course be improved?

What outcomes does it produce for the participants and senior centers?

Secondary Objectives:

How can the program be sustained beyond seed grants?

The real proof is in the demand from the beneficiaries—older adults who become engaged in living healthier and happier lives. As the medical professionals and insurers see the outcomes, AMP could become a prescription of the future.