30th Anniversary of NPA

Now and Then

January

January NOW US map of PACE organizations

THEN: On Lok Senior Services and 10 PACE Demonstration Programs in 8 States

NOW: 163 PACE Organizations in 32 States and the District of Columbia

In 1994 PACE was still on its way to becoming a permanent provider type under Medicare and Medicaid. On Lok, in San Francisco, CA, developed the PACE model of care and advocated for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which was then known as the Health Care Financing Administration, to test the effectiveness of the model by allowing PACE demonstration programs around the country. The PACE demonstrations would follow the PACE Protocol developed by On Lok, collect data, and test the model in different communities and with different sponsor types.

Congress passed legislation making PACE a permanent provider type under Medicare and Medicaid as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1999. The first PACE demonstration program was approved as a PACE provider in November 2001.

Today, PACE is growing rapidly, with 163 PACE organizations operating more than 300 PACE centers in 32 states and District of Columbia and serving over 72,000 participants.