Resource allocations to the aged according to greatest social need

The purposes of the study reported on in this article were: (a) to explore the measurement of social need among the elderly, and (b) to develop an appropriate method for including social need in funding allocation procedures. Interview responses from over 4,000 randomly selected elderly persons were used to identify the demographic correlates of those having the most restrictions in their every-day lives. Procedures for intrastate allocations were developed using variables suggested by the Older Americans Act and by research to explain variance in activities of daily living. Variables tested for the model were: age, income, living arrangement, gender, ethnicity, area of residence, occupation, hospitalization, years in the neighborhood, language at home, and utilization of senior services. Prediction formula weights were adjusted (magnitude of beta i/sigma magnitude of beta i) to allocate resources to the proportions of 10 "high-need" groups residing in each planning area: the population aged 75 and older, the proportion of hospital discharges of elderly patients, elderly females, elderly non-Caucasians, the elderly not completing high school, elderly farm workers, elderly urban residents, a proportion for participation in senior services, for low-income elderly persons, and for the elderly not living with their spouses. Compared to current systems, the proposed procedure provides a closer fit to the actual needs of the elderly.