Enhancing managed care's role in long-term care: building on the aging network.

As Medicare managed care organizations grow, they will likely enroll more functionally impaired older people, as well as individuals with special linguistic and cultural needs. Traditional aging network service providers have special expertise to serve these populations. To date, however, the aging network has only been integrated into the operations of managed care on a very limited basis, primarily by demonstration projects. This article highlights program examples of collaboration between the aging network providers and managed care organizations for case management, screening, assisted living, and adult day care. The steps managed care organizations should take to build on the expertise of the aging network are described.