American Society on Aging's Patrice Dickerson is joned by Michelle Hoersch from the Illinois Department on Aging and Mindy Ulstad from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

This episode explores the growing national momentum behind Multisector Plans for Aging (MPAs), highlighting Missouri and Illinois as two of the latest states to launch comprehensive strategies to support their aging populations. Missouri’s Master Plan on Aging provides a statewide roadmap to strengthen services and supports for older adults and people with disabilities, while Illinois’ EngAging Illinois plan outlines a 10-year vision for improving aging across sectors.

Together, these initiatives bring together key areas such as healthcare, housing, transportation, workforce, and caregiving to better meet the needs of aging residents. This conversation examines what these efforts reveal about state leadership, cross-sector collaboration, implementation challenges, and best practices—and what they signal about the role of coordinated policy in preparing communities for a rapidly aging population.

This podcast is presented by West Health.

This episode explores brain health across the life course—from early development and midlife prevention to cognitive impairment and dementia in later life—and examines the implications for policy, health system transformation, and care delivery. The discussion identifies key drivers that shape cognitive outcomes and surfaces how aging systems and care models must evolve to implement scientific advances. It also explores how health systems and care models must evolve to meet the growing burden of cognitive and behavioral health conditions—particularly through stronger integration of brain health into primary care, earlier detection, team-based care models, and better coordination across medical and community services. The conversation examines how measurement, quality frameworks, and payment approaches can support this shift, and what policymakers, health systems, and communities can do now to move from fragmented, crisis-driven care toward prevention-oriented, brain-healthy systems that support cognitive health across the lifespan.

This episode of LeverAGE explores how states are using interactive aging data dashboards to turn Multisector Plans for Aging (MPAs) into measurable, trackable policy action. Drawing from emerging examples in California, Colorado, Maryland, North Carolina, and Tennessee, the discussion highlights how dashboards translate complex demographic, economic, and health data into tools that support planning, transparency, and accountability. The conversation examines how these platforms track indicators related to economic security, health and well-being, housing, caregiving, transportation and long-term services while enabling policymakers and communities to identify disparities and monitor progress over time. It also considers the growing role of West Health’s National Aging Readiness Dashboard in providing a cross-state lens on aging readiness and helping states benchmark their progress as they prepare for rapidly aging populations.