Then and Now

January

January NOW US map of PACE organizations

THEN: On Lok Senior Services and 10 PACE demonstration programs in 8 states.

NOW: 155 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 developed the PACE model of care and advocated for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (back 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 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 would be approved as a PACE provider in November 2001.

Today PACE is growing rapidly. There are 155 PACE organizations, operating more than 300 PACE centers in 32 states and District of Columbia serving over 71,000 participants.