Adviser Winter 2019-20 LeadingAge New York Adviser LeadingAge NewYork Winter 2019-20 | Page 4

Greetings New Year, New Decade, New Opportunities The start of a new year is a time for reflection about the year ending and to set direction for what lies ahead. It can be a refreshing period of optimism. Achievements are reviewed, misfortunes are put aside, new goals are set and new ideas abound. We dream of possibilities, set limits and take control. The list is long, but the key is that people and businesses treat a new year like a clean slate; anything is possible. The start of 2020 is like the jackpot for optimists because it heralds both a new year and a new decade. A new decade that promises opportunity alongside the significant issues facing the field. More people will need care and services, and the system is being pushed to accommodate them. The increased demand at a lower price point for payers is driving an abundance of innovation and new models of service delivery and collaboration as payers incentivize savings, efficiency and better quality of care. There is even opportunity around the elephants in the room: the decreasing retirement savings of New Yorkers and the shrinking workforce. Medicaid is already straining at the limit, and housing, care and services at a rate the market can afford are scarce in many key areas of the state. How do we address an immense middle market who will have little to fund their care in their older years? Even more alarming, who will care for people of limited means? The answer will come through new models, regulatory changes, collaborations, new business lines and more, all to address need while providing opportunity for members. LeadingAge New York assembles the leaders in long term care, housing and services at the Annual Conference and Exposition to present education, guidance, new ideas, new models, new products and services and to help build new relationships among attendees that can lead to a new start for the new decade. Take advantage of all the conference can offer. Talk to others during networking events, engage in discussion during panel and other presentations and talk to the exhibitors and business attendees who may have solutions. Collaboration of resources may be the key to solving the looming issues, and non-profit providers have the natural advantage in their ability to form these relationships to solve problems. Use the resources and time provided at this conference as a springboard for planning for the new decade. For specific information about the stories in this issue or to discuss future Adviser ideas, contact Kristen Myers at [email protected]. James W. Clyne Jr. President and CEO 3 Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Winter 2019-20