INDIANA, PA — Pennsylvania has selected five county and regional aging agencies to receive expert support in building new multidisciplinary teams aimed at tackling the state’s most complex elder abuse cases, marking a major shift in how older adult protective services are handled.
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging announced Tuesday that five Area Agencies on Aging and regional coalitions — spanning 12 counties — will be the first to receive individualized consulting and technical assistance as they develop Multidisciplinary Teams, or MDTs, to better protect older Pennsylvanians from abuse and exploitation.
The selected agencies include individual counties Bucks, Cumberland, and Indiana, as well as two multi-county MDT hubs. One hub will serve Lehigh, Lancaster, and Berks counties, while the second will cover Clearfield, Jefferson, Potter, Cameron, Elk, and McKean counties.
MDTs are community-based teams that bring together professionals from social services, law enforcement, prosecutors’ offices, health care, mental health, finance, and public health to address high-risk elder abuse cases that often cross institutional boundaries. The model, supported by the U.S. Department of Justice and used in states such as New York and California, is designed to improve coordination, speed decision-making, and reduce harm to vulnerable older adults.
The initiative is being led under the direction of Aging Secretary Jason Kavulich, who said the program reflects the administration’s focus on modernizing protective services while supporting local agencies and community partners .
The Department has partnered with Weill Cornell Medicine to provide consulting, technical guidance, and evidence-based frameworks to help agencies establish and strengthen MDT structures. The consulting will also include advanced data analysis and subject-matter expertise to ensure consistency and measurable outcomes across diverse regions, from rural to suburban communities.
Local officials say the need is growing. Indiana County Aging Services Executive Director Janine Maust said elder abuse cases in the county have increased by 55 percent over the past five years, with cases becoming more complex and resource-intensive. Indiana County District Attorney Robert F. Manzi Jr. said the support will help strengthen protections for seniors through deeper collaboration among agencies.
The effort is backed by funding in Josh Shapiro’s 2025–26 budget, which includes a $10 million investment to support Area Agencies on Aging as they deliver services and protective programs statewide.
Pennsylvania’s aging network includes 52 Area Agencies on Aging serving all 67 counties. The Department said the MDT initiative aligns with its broader push for transparency and accountability, including its Comprehensive Agency Performance Evaluation system, which publicly reports performance data for agencies providing protective services.
Officials said lessons learned from the initial counties will be used to refine and potentially expand the MDT model across the Commonwealth in the coming years.
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