Older Americans Act: Eldercare Partnerships Generate Few Additional Funds for Public Services

GAO discussed whether public-private partnerships between area agencies on aging (AAA) and private corporations increased funding for aging services. GAO noted that: (1) less than 12 percent of AAA have entered into public-private partnerships to provide information, referral, or case management services; (2) AAA public-private partnerships have often used vendors as intermediaries and referral sources; (3) the nature of services provided to employers or vendors has varied among the partnerships; (4) AAA have provided additional services through partnerships with insurance companies; (5) the scope of AAA partnerships is limited and most partnerships do not meet their objective of generating the additional resources needed to finance other AAA activities; and (6) AAA partnerships have used existing staff to provide services to referrals which reduced the resources available for funding AAA services.