BUTLER, PA — Pennsylvania’s overhaul of oversight for local aging agencies is showing measurable gains in elder-abuse response times, with 50 of the state’s 52 Area Agencies on Aging responding to suspected abuse reports on time at least 85% of the time as of September, state Aging Secretary Jason Kavulich said during a Wednesday visit to Butler County.
The performance data offer an early measure of the state’s Comprehensive Aging Performance Evaluation, or CAPE, system, which replaced a pass-or-fail monitoring process with a framework that measures and scores how agencies use resources and deliver services, including adult protective services.
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging oversees 52 Area Agencies on Aging serving all 67 counties.
Under CAPE, the department also measures how quickly agencies reach determinations in protective-services cases. As of September, 30 of the 52 agencies, or nearly 60%, completed determinations within the state’s 20-day timeframe in at least 85% of cases.
The department said agencies meeting the initial response standard often respond to suspected elder-abuse reports within 24 hours.
“The old system was like a teacher telling a student they passed or failed for the year, without providing any grades in individual subjects or feedback on how to get better,” Kavulich said. The new system, he said, gives agencies specific information they can use to adjust their operations.
The changes also expose more of the aging network’s performance to public scrutiny.
The department began publishing CAPE evaluation results in April 2025, the first time Pennsylvania made such performance assessments of its aging agencies publicly available. Results are now posted for 34 evaluations covering 45 counties after the recent addition of Jefferson, Montgomery and Schuylkill counties.
“Pennsylvanians deserve to know how their local aging network or the network serving their loved one is performing,” Kavulich said.
Kavulich visited the Butler County Area Agency on Aging for a roundtable examining how the evaluation system is affecting agency operations.
Butler County AAA Executive Director Beth Herold said CAPE provided specific feedback that the agency used to refine its practices.
“As a director for 15 years and a nurse, I value any tool that helps us improve the care and support we provide,” Herold said. “CAPE gave us constructive feedback, highlighted our strengths, and guided us in refining practices that directly benefit the individuals we serve.”
The department’s monitoring changes place greater emphasis on measurable performance across Pennsylvania’s decentralized aging-services network, particularly in protective-services cases where delays can affect older adults facing suspected abuse.
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