Allegheny County Area Agency on Aging cuts back as budget falls short

The agency is facing a 10% budget reduction.

By MEGAN TROTTER
TribLive

Allegheny County’s Area Agency on Aging is facing a projected shortfall of more than $5 million in its roughly $50 million budget — a gap officials say will mean longer wait times, new service limits and reduced access for older adults seeking help.

On Friday, officials said the agency, part of the Department of Human Services, will respond by scaling back and capping certain services and placing new applicants on waitlists.

“The older adult population over the last decade has risen by about 20%,” said Alex Jutca, interim director of the Department of Human Services. “Cumulative inflation has represented about a 40% increase in price levels over that decade against what’s been flat funding for aging services, and so there has been a structural issue.”

Officials said people already receiving mandated services — such as essential in-home care, meals and protective services — will continue to receive them. However, non-mandated support will be reduced.

Jutca also noted that the county’s older adult population is expected to grow to about 285,000 by 2030, which is likely to increase demand for services without additional intervention.

The situation has been further strained by additional funding cuts tied to federal Medicaid-related changes, which officials said have intensified the need for immediate program reductions.

Following Medicaid-related changes included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress and signed into law last year, the county recently lost a $2 million contract from the state’s Office of Long-Term Living.

“I think what has really thrown this particular long-standing structural issue into an urgent budget shortfall is the combination of that long-run change plus the federal administration’s changes,” Jutca said. “That’s resulted in the need to make a series of immediate changes because of the way our funding is structured and aging.”

What services are changing?

Waitlists are in place for new applicants seeking home-delivered meals, home support, home modifications and personal care. Current eligible recipients will continue receiving services.

As of Friday, there were eight people on the waitlist for home-delivered meals. The waitlist for in-home support services has 180 people on it, department officials said.

In-home support services like grocery shopping, laundry and cleaning to help seniors stay at home will continue but will be reduced to a maximum of four hours per month.

Items such as medical or nutritional supplements and incontinence supplies will no longer be funded. The agency said that case managers will help older adults transition to alternative resources, such as Medicare.

“We acknowledge that there’s going to be real pain on our staff, on providers, and, most importantly, on our clients. So we acknowledge that these are really painful choices,” Jutca said. “But they were necessary choices at this time again to confront the budget realities that we had.”

Meal services will be prioritized to focus on greatest need and reimbursement rates for meal preparation agencies will be reduced.

This is a change to the rate paid to providers who offer meals in homes and at Senior Centers, but will not change which older adults receive meals or how frequently, the agency said.

Budget woes are also leading to staffing cuts.

The Area Agency on Aging is reducing its workforce by nine positions.

The Department of Human Services is working with the affected employees to transition to open positions within the agency or elsewhere in the department.

This issue is not unique to Allegheny County.

In the last year across Pennsylvania, 13 senior centers in eight counties closed while nearly two dozen more remain at risk of closure, 20 Area Agencies on Aging anticipate cutting programs such as grab-and-go meals, home support and medical supplies and 22 Area Agencies on Aging expect to expand their waitlists, the county department said.

“When you look across the commonwealth, not only have other area agencies on aging started to implement some of these cost savings mechanisms, I think lots of others will be in the future,” Jutca said. “We’re really on the forefront of what I think is a national trend.”