California Evidence-Based
Health Promotion Initiative

The Healthier Living program offers participants effective and practical coping strategies to manage their health conditions. The program includes a series of 2-½-hour workshops presented over a 6-week period by two trained leaders. The curriculum includes behavior modifications and coping strategies to enable participants to better cope with their chronic diseases, manage their medications, and increase physical activity levels. Participants also work on effective communication skills with family, friends, and health professionals. After completing the workshops, participants demonstrate significant improvement in their self-reported general health as well as in aspects such as improved attitude and gained skills.

Over the next several months we will bring you more on how you can make this highly effective program available at your site.

A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns about Falls

A Matter of Balance is designed to reduce fear of falling and increase physical activity levels among community-dwelling older adults. The program includes eight 2-hour classes presented over a four- or eight-week period by two lay leaders using a training manual and instructional videos. The curriculum includes lectures, group discussions, mutual problem-solving, role-play activities, exercise training, assertiveness training, and home assignments. Participants learn about the importance of exercise in preventing falls; practice exercises to improve strength, coordination and balance; and conduct a home safety evaluation. Participants demonstrate significant improvements in their level of falls management, falls control, level of exercise and social limitations with regard to concern about falling.

Over the next several months we will bring you more on how you can make this highly effective program available at your site.

Healthy Moves for Aging Well

Healthy Moves for Aging Well is a simple and safe physical activity program developed to address the inactivity of older adults receiving care management services in the home. This program expands the role of care managers and gives them the tools to engage frail clients in simple, safe, functionally-linked exercises. On their regularly scheduled visits, care managers assess the physical condition of their clients, engage them to participate through motivational interviewing, and teach them exercises. Volunteer phone coaches from the community monitor client progress on a weekly basis for three months. Care managers reassess their client’s physical condition on the next scheduled visit.

Healthy Moves integrates best practice information from two evidence-based components: physical activity and behavior change.

Learn more about Healthy Moves including how to bring this program to your site or how to become a motivational coach!

Medication Management Improvement System (MMIS)

The MMIS can prevent medication errors and improve medication management for older adults enrolled in Medicaid waiver care management programs. Core components include screening, assessment, consultation, and follow-up for high risk older adults – all conducted by the care manager in consultation with a consulting pharmacist. The intervention includes a computerized risk assessment screening algorithm and alert system to assist care mangers in identifying potential medication problems. Because care managers already dedicate time to collect medication lists, adding the intervention to identify and correct medication problems is cost-effective, relatively simple to implement, and can have a powerful positive impact on clients’ health and quality of life.

The Medication Management Improvement System (MMIS) is an evidence-based intervention specifically designed to enable social worker and nurse care managers to identify and resolve certain medication problems common among frail elders living in the community.

Learn more about the Medication Management Improvement System (MMIS) and how to bring this program to your site!

We can assist you in bringing any or all of these programs to your area or site

Partners will assist you with the introduction and dissemination of evidence-based programs through places such as senior centers, senior housing sites, clinics and other community based sites in California and we can also provide technical assistance to you.

If you are responsible for any of these and would like to learn more about any of these evidence-based programs and how you can implement in your setting please contact Gina Fleming, Program Administrator at ext. 115

Or, email

Why You Should Choose an Evidence-Based Program: The Critical Need to Impact Treatable and Even Preventable Decline and the Effects of Disease and Disability

California has the largest and most ethnically diverse older adult population in the country, expected to grow to 12.5 million by 2040. Although the majority of today’s older adults have two or more chronic conditions, we now have tools enabling us to minimize their impact on everyday life and to slow or stop their progression. Without proper treatment and management, however, chronic conditions often lead to disability, need for caregiver support and expensive health care services, and even death.

Older Californians experience over one million falls a year, leading to painful hip fractures and other serious injuries, as well as permanent disabilities, costly hospitalizations, nursing home placement and even death. Falls account for 37% of accidental deaths among those aged 65 and over.

Many of the causes of falls – physical inactivity, medication errors, environmental hazards, vision and hearing problems, depression and confusion – are treatable or entirely preventable. With concerted action by health care professionals and all of the agencies serving elders, many falls and the suffering caused, can be prevented.

Educating and empowering older adults to make behavioral changes (e.g. improve diet, increase physical activity, manage stress, monitor blood pressure or sugar, and manage their medications) and supporting them in making these changes can significantly improve their health outcomes and quality of life.

About Partners in Care

Through its Institute for Change Research Center, Partners in Care has developed and tested a number of evidence-based programs for older adults. This strong background of research and practice with expertise in building effective partnerships that implement and sustain efforts to change and improve the health and well being of the aging population provided Partners the opportunity to become the California Department of Aging State Program Office for the U.S. Administration on Aging’s (AoA) effort to transform the aging network into an effective force in improving the health and wellness of older adults.

"California Health Innovation Center and CHIC are service marks of Partners in Care Foundation"