Associations/Organizations

AARP (American Association of Retired Persons)
www.aarp.org

The AARPs site covers the organizations advocacy positions on a variety of elder topics including Social Security and Medicare. Helpful features include: information on comparing Medigap insurance policies (detailed, but out-of-date), and information on Medicare and the AARP Advocacy Center for Medicare. The AARP offers its own Web letter service: free bi-weekly e-mail subscriptions. To promote advocacy on national issues there is a directory, with direct e-mail links, to every member of Congress. The site is searchable.

AARP Benefits QuickLINK
https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/?view=all

AARP offers online tools that take the guesswork out of the maze of public benefit programs. Information on every state in the U.S. and the District of Columbia.

Alzheimer’s Association
www.alz.org

The Alzheimer’s Association is the world leader in Alzheimer research and support. Since our founding in 1980, we have provided nearly $140 million to support research into the prevention, treatment and eventual cure for Alzheimer’s. Our nationwide network of chapters offer frontline support to individuals affected by Alzheimer’s with services that include 24/7 information and referral, safety services, and education and support groups.

American Association of Law Schools, Section on Aging and the Law
https://memberaccess.aals.org/eWeb/dynamicpage.aspx?webcode=ChpDetail&chp_cst_key=25823934-2d4f-44dd-b357-c29acb311e40

AALS is the largest organization of law schools in the U.S. Law professor and adjunct law professors with an interest in elder law have joined together into this organization. This site has resources, conferences, sample course syllabi, and international law and aging links. To request a member as a program speaker, contact aals@aals.org.

American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging
www.abanet.org/aging

The Commission on Law and Aging is a policy research, advocacy, and education project with the American Bar Association. Its mission is to: (1) Improve public policy, law and practices that enhance individual rights, choices and empowerment of an aging population. (2) Improve the delivery of AoA-funded elder law services and the collaboration between the public and private bar. (3) Improve the education of professionals (of multiple disciplines) and the public in the areas of law and public policy. The Commissions website includes its publication list, legislative tracking, and information useful to both lawyers and the general public.

American Hospice Foundation
www.americanhospice.org

The American Hospice Foundation provides information and supports programs for terminally ill and grieving individuals, their families, and the professionals who care for them.

American Society of Bioethics and Humanities
www.asbh.org

The purpose of ASBH is to promote the exchange of ideas and foster scholarship, research, teaching, policy development, professional development, and collegiality among people engaged in all of the endeavors related to clinical and academic bioethics and the health-related humanities.

Center for Medicare Advocacy
www.medicareadvocacy.org

The Center is a private, not-for-profit organization staffed by attorneys, paralegals, a nurse, and computer specialists. The organization provides direct representation for residents of Connecticut and legal advice, information, and advocacy for Medicare beneficiaries nationwide. The Center produces a wide array of written material to assist Medicare beneficiaries and their advocates including self-help packets, brochures, and a quarterly newsletter. Much of this information, various updates, and important primary resource material is available on the Centers website. In addition, the Center is involved in education, policy making, and litigation of importance to Medicare beneficiaries throughout the country.

Elder Justice Coalition
www.elderjusticecoalition.org

The Elder Justice Coalition was formally launched on February 10, 2003, to coincide with the introduction of the Elder Justice Act (S. 333), which was introduced by Senators John Breaux and Orrin Hatch. The Coalition has five founding organizational members: the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (NCPEA), the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), the National Association of State Units on Aging (NASUA), the National Association of Adult Protective Service Administrators (NAAPSA), and the National Association of State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs (NASOP).

Families USA
www.familiesusa.org

Families USA Foundation is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health and long-term care for all Americans. Its site includes companion sites on Medicaid and managed care with extensive materials from a wide range of similar organizations, and both national and state-specific information. Families USA offers free subscriptions to e-mail newsletters and policy alerts in four areas – Medicaid, managed care, children’s health, and all health care issues. The site is searchable. This is a valuable site for those involved in advocacy at the legislative and regulatory arenas and for those with legal problems with managed care or Medicaid.

Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing
www.hartfordign.org

The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing seeks to shape the quality of health care older Americans receive by promoting the highest level of geriatric competence in all nurses. By raising the standards of nursing care, the Hartford Institute aims to ensure that people age with optimal function, comfort and dignity.

HMOs4seniors.com
www.hmos4seniors.com

This site offers independent Medicare HMO cost comparisons combined with the convenience of requesting plan information from the Medicare HMOs available by area. HealthMetrix Research provides independent decision-support information to a national audience of managed care organizations, healthcare providers, purchasers, and consumers who are positioned to influence changes in the healthcare industry.

The Hospice Patients Alliance
www.hospicepatients.org

The Hospice Patients Alliance (HPA) is a private nonprofit charitable corporation dedicated to serving the general public, hospice patients, their families/caregivers, the bereaved and hospice staff. HPA promotes quality hospice services whether a patient is enrolled in a licensed hospice or not, whether residing at home or in a facility.

Institute for Geriatric Social Work
www.bu.edu/igsw/resources/index.html

The Institute for Geriatric Social Work is dedicated to advancing social work practice with older adults and their families through free and low-cost continuing education events regionally, online and through the mail, research, and policy initiatives.

International Longevity Center – USA
www.ilcusa.org

The International Longevity Center-USA (ILC-USA) is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan research, policy and education organization whose mission is to help societies address the issues of population aging and longevity in positive and constructive ways and to highlight older people’s productivity and contributions to their families and to society as a whole. The ILC-USA is an independent affiliate of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and is incorporated as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) entity.

Last Acts
www.lastacts.org

The Last Acts website is an on-line community dedicated to improving end-of-life care through the sharing of ideas and solutions by professional care givers, educators and consumers. The site includes a resource center, updates on the campaign Task Force groups, news updates, reports on palliative care, family needs, service providers, education and training.

MealCall.org
www.MealCall.org

Whether by the name Meals-On-Wheels, AOA, AAA or any other name, MealCall helps provide necessary resources to local senior meal delivery organizations and congregate meal sites through direct financial support, helping to find volunteers, and providing online contact support between organizations and the people that need their services.

Medicare Rights Center
www.medicarerights.org

The Medicare Rights Center is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that older adults and people with disabilities get good, affordable health care. This website offers helpful and reliable Medicare information for professionals in the health care field.

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
http://www.nami.org

With more than 210,000 members, NAMI is the nations leading grassroots advocacy organization solely dedicated to improving the lives of persons with severe mental illnesses including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and severe anxiety disorders.

National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers (now known as the Aging Life Care Association)
https://www.aginglifecare.org/

The National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers (GCM) is an association of professional practitioners whose purpose is the development, advancement, and promotion of humane and dignified social, psychological, and health care for the elderly and their families through counseling, treatment, and the delivery of concrete services by qualified, certified providers. GCM is committed to working towards the highest quality of care for the elderly and their families through education, advocacy, and high standards of professional practice.

National Association of Senior Move Managers
http://www.nasmm.org

A group of professionals who specialize in facilitating a smooth transition for seniors moving from the home into a senior housing community.

National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform
www.nccnhr.org

The mission of the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform is to improve the quality of life of residents in the nation’s nursing homes.

National Council for Aging Care’s Guide on Elder Abuse
http://www.aginginplace.org/guide-to-recognizing-elder-abuse/

National Guardianship Association
http://www.guardianship.org

The mission of the National Guardianship Association is to provide educational, training, and networking opportunities for guardians; to promote the highest levels of values, standards and ethics; and to ensure a nationally recognized standard of excellence.

National Health Law Project (NHeLP)
www.healthlaw.org

NHeLP is a national organization providing health care advocacy for low-income people. It provides litigation support, training and consulting services and detailed analysis of current and proposed legislation. Its links page (https://healthlaw.org/resource-library/) is quite thorough, with connections to Medicaid agencies in most states and a wide variety of advocacy groups. NHeLP offers a free e-mail subscriptions for publishing information on current issues.

National Family Caregivers Association
www.nfcacares.org

The National Family Caregivers Association offers services in the areas of information and education, support and validation, and public awareness and advocacy, toward the goal of minimizing the disparity between a caregiver’s quality of life and that of mainstream Americans.

National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR)
www.nosscr.org

NOSSCR is the national support organization for attorneys specializing in Social Security disability law. The site features basic information on the law and the organization. Some materials are available only to members.

National Partnership For Women & Families (NPWF)
www.nationalpartnership.org

National Partnership hosts a special section on caregiving which has information on important federal laws that can help caregivers; helpful articles on a range of caregiving issues, from how to prepare for the possibility of caregiving to what to do when the job suddenly falls on your shoulders; links to research on caregiving; and a resource section that highlights other web sites. This helpful information can be found under their main Work and Family area.

National Private Duty Association
www.privatedutyhomecare.org

The National Private Duty Association is the nation’s first association for providers of private duty home care, which includes non-medical home care services. NPDA seeks to enhance the strength and professionalism of private duty home care providers through education and development of best practices.

National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC)
www.nsclc.org

NSCLC advocates nationwide on behalf of low-income elderly individuals and persons with disabilities. It provides litigation assistance, research and consulting support, national policy representation, training and manuals and periodicals. Substantive areas covered on the site include: Age Discrimination, Americans with Disabilities Act, Medicaid, Medicare, Nursing Homes, Older Americans Act, Pension Rights and Social Security. The site includes articles and legal documents on many of these topics. The Centers publications, including numerous manuals and a newsletter, are described, but are for sale in print form only.

Nurse Competence in Aging
www.GeroNurseOnline.org

Nurse Competence in Aging (NCA) is improving the quality of health care older adults receive by enhancing the geriatric competence – the knowledge, skills and attitudes – of the 400,000 nurses who are professionally identified as members of approximately 57 specialty nursing associations.

Synergy Summit
https://synergysummit.us/

The Synergy Summit is a unified think tank and voice of the leadership of seven major legal, accounting, and financial service organizations. The purpose of the Synergy Summit is to study, educate, and opine on appropriate issue of mutual interest. The seven organizations are:

  • The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Tax Section),
  • The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PFP Section),
  • The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA),
  • The National Association of Estate Planners & Councils,
  • The American Bar Association (Real Property, Probate and Trust Section),
  • The American Bar Association (Estate & Gift Tax Committee of the Tax Section) and,
  • The Society of Financial Service Professionals.

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
www.tlpj.org

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice is the only public interest law firm dedicated to using trial lawyers’ skills and resources to advance the public good. Founded in 1982 at Ralph Nader’s urging, TLPJ utilizes a network of the nation’s outstanding trial lawyers to pursue precedent-setting and socially significant litigation. TLPJ has a wide-ranging litigation docket in the areas of toxic torts, environmental protection, consumer rights, worker safety, civil rights and liberties, and access to the civil justice system. TLPJ is the principal project of The TLPJ Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation and membership organization, with over 2,700 members.

United Seniors Health Cooperative
www.unitedseniorshealth.org

United Seniors Health Cooperative (USHC) is a non-profit organization of consumers, advocates, and eldercare professionals throughout the country who are committed to the belief that informed consumers are those best able to help themselves. The site contains on-line information about long-term care insurance, Medicare, Medicaid and Medigap insurance and a list of publications for sale.

Community Resources/Social Services

The A2Z Senior Supersite
www.SeniorHospitality.com

This free industry-wide internet portal is designed to connect you quickly and easily to the world of Senior Hospitality: providers of Senior-oriented housing, health and wellness resources, and other products and services. These communities and organizations are either Senior Hospitality Specialists (serving Seniors is their only focus) or Senior Hospitality Associates (serving Seniors is one of their specialties).

MyZiva
www.myziva.net

With a whole host of nursing homes throughout the United States, assessing and evaluating Nursing Facility services can easily lead to confusion and misinformation. MyZiva.net has been designed to uncomplicate the process.

MyZiva.net provides an easy to use platform for consumers, healthcare professionals and other advocates to evaluate and compare nursing homes, understand the services that a nursing home provides, and be informed of how one pays for nursing home care.

SeniorScape
www.seniorscape.com

SeniorScape offers a site where care managers, elder law attorneys, guardians and other elder care professionals, facilities and providers can meet the public in the most comprehensive of elder care resources. SeniorScape (1) delivers free and vital elder care resources to the public and (2) serves as an interactive forum for elder care professionals and service providers.

Bet Tzedek Legal Services
www.bettzedek.org/aboutus.html

Bet Tzedek Legal Services is a non-profit public interest law firm which provides free legal services to the elderly and indigent of Los Angeles County.

Elder Law Resources

Association of Healthcare Medical Lawyers
www.healthcare-medlawyers.org

AHML’s mission is to reduce or eliminate healthcare provider for fraud both in the public (Medicare) and private sectors in America.

seniorresource.com
http://www.seniorresource.com

seniorresource.com is an E-cyclopedia of housing choices for seniors from successfully aging in place to finding housing with the proper type of care needed. They include financial and insurance planning information, general aging information, state specific resources and a resource site for professionals working with businesses in the industry. They publish a monthly E-zine, an email subscription newsletter and run surveys on their site.

Social Security Handbook
https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home%2Fhandbook/handbook.html

Offered by the Social Security Administration, this site offers electronic and printed versions of the Social Security Handbook.

Government

Veterans Administration

www.va.gov

Americans with Disabilities Act
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm

This U.S. Department of Justice site includes information and numerous links relating to the Americans with Disabilities Act and enforcement. The Departments technical assistance manuals are available on-line along with information on new and pending regulations.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
www.cms.hhs.gov

The U.S. Federal agency which administers Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Proposed Rule Changes
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HealthPlansGenInfo/Downloads/PDP-MA_Proposed_Rule.pdf

Proposed Medicare rule that makes changes to both Medicare Part C and Part D.

Federal Regulations
www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr

This Government Printing Office site offers an on-line, searchable and current version of all federal regulations along with access to the Federal Register, 1995 to date. This is one of many “gateway” sites that provide access to the Government Printing Office publications.

Fedlaw (U.S. General Services Administration)
www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf.shtml#Laws

This straightforward and useful site is maintained by the General Services Administration for the benefit of federal attorneys. It includes links to the U. S. Supreme Court, all Federal Circuits, and many District Court opinions; the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations; the United States Codes; current federal legislative activity (via Thomas, the Web site maintained by the Library of Congress, http://thomas.loc.gov); and links to state and territorial laws.

Federal Register
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html

This is the University of California “GPO [Government Printing Office] gate,” of which there are several. The gateway provides access to the full-text databases made available by the GPO Access service of the Government Printing Office, including in this case the Federal Register from 1995 to the present, in a searchable database. Items are available in summary and in “PDF” format and appear to be current daily.

The Federal Web Locator
http://www.lib.auburn.edu/madd/docs/fedloc.html

This site is provided by the Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy as “one-stop shopping” for federal government information on the World Wide Web.” It contains a comprehensive listing of federal government sites.

Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA)-The Medicare & Medicaid Agency
www.hcfa.gov

This is a very large site with lots of general as well as technical information regarding HCFA and its two major programs, Medicare and Medicaid. There are direct links to Medicare and Medicaid law and regulations, HCFA rulings and official advisory opinions, HCFA letters to state Medicaid directors, consumer and professional/technical on-line publications, listings of state and regional HCFA staff, and extensive statistical data. HCFA publications and memorandum, including all 22 Medicaid and Medicare manuals, are available for downloading. There is an internal search mechanism to aid in locating information on this vast site.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
https://www.irs.gov/

The IRS site is extremely large and includes a link to IRS forms and publications that can be downloaded and printed using Adobe Acrobat. Quite often the on-line forms are more up-to-date than the printed forms available. Elder Law attorneys frequently need quick access of IRS forms in order to obtain tax identification numbers for trusts, to obtain IRS power of attorney forms, or to file tax returns.

Library of Congress
www.loc.gov

The Librarys website provides information about the Library, its programs, and services, online collections from American historical materials, texts of many of the Library’s publications, access to our online bibliographic catalogs, legislative information, guides to special collections, and more.

Medicare Information
www.medicare.gov

This Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) site is dedicated to Medicare. Features include directories of contacts for each state and downloadable publications on Medicare, nursing home selection and advance directives. The national nursing home database contains detailed survey and certification data noting deficiencies and corrective action ordered by state agencies. This data can be helpful in advising clients on nursing home selection. There is similar comparative information on all Medicare managed care organizations.

Social Security Administration
www.ssa.gov

This is the official site of the Social Security Administration. In addition to providing basic information, it contains many publications dealing with Social Security in English and Spanish, the entire Social Security Act (including Medicare and Medicaid), recent legislation, the Social Security Handbook, links to federal regulations, and information on legal employment with the Administration. Users can learn about applying for Social Security, how benefits are calculated, and how to estimate benefit levels, and can request a Personal Earnings and Benefit Statement.

THOMAS (US Congress)
thomas.loc.gov

The three major areas covered by THOMAS – Legislation, Congressional Record, and Committee Information. Current and pending legislation can be tracked, as well as voting records of representatives.

Welcome to Fannie Mae
www.fanniemae.com

Fannie Mae was created in 1938 by the federal government to help ensure a regular and reliable source of funding for home mortgages. Now a shareholder-owned company trading on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: FNM), FannieMae operates a detailed and information-rich website about, among other things, how to purchase properties from the company. Go to http://www.fanniemae.com/homes/index.html to search for homes by city, state and price range.

White House
www.whitehouse.gov

The White House website is filled with statistics, links to graphs and charts, and access to a wealth of government information and further links. For the best and most detailed information, head straight to the Briefing Room (https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog). Political junkies can read (and sometimes hear) recent speeches by both the President and Vice President, policy pronouncements and other news terms.

Legal Resources

Administration on Aging
https://www.acl.gov/about-acl/administration-aging

AoA’s “Elders and Families” site contains many resources for the elderly that can be useful for attorneys as well. There is a large nationwide searchable directory to 230 national and local agencies, health associations, and organizations. There is a large compilation of general and statistical materials on-line.

Code of Federal Regulations
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/cfr

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is a codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the Executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. The CFR online is a joint project authorized by the publisher, the National Archives and Records Administration’s Office of the Federal Register, and the Government Printing Office (GPO) to provide the public with enhanced access to Government information. GPO will continue to make the paper editions of the CFR and Federal Register available through its Superintendent of Documents Sales service.

Findlaw
www.findlaw.com

Findlaw is almost certainly the most comprehensive legal information site online. If it is online and law-related, you can find it either on Findlaw or by a link to the original site from Findlaw.

LawResearch
www.lawresearch.com

LawResearch is a resource site that has three levels of service. A demonstration page of 20,000 legal resources, which is a free public service; a free test trial account for legal professionals with some 30,000 legal resources links; and a commercial version 20.0 which contains over 200,000 legal resource links worldwide.

Legal dot NET
www.legaldot.net

Legal dot Net is an online legal community for professionals, educators, students and consumers. Discuss the latest legal policy trends, research statutes and case law, read the latest legal news, seek legal advice, locate a local attorney, shop for legal texts, novels, software all at Legal dot Net the legal network for everyone.

Legal Search Engine from LexisNexis
www.lexisweb.com

Lexis Web provides powerful navigation tools to help individuals search for legal resources on the web free of charge. To assure authoritative and accurate content, the LexisNexis editorial staff has hand-selected all legal-oriented web content. Our database is constantly expanding with content from a vast array of web sites and thousands of web pages added each day

Uniform Laws
https://www.law.upenn.edu/library/

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in association with the University of Pennsylvania Law School is making these drafts of Uniform and Model Acts available to help fulfill their mission to distribute information to the public. Links to the WordPerfect 5.1, Adobe PDF, and generic text versions are available at the top of each document.

Westlaw
http://www.westlaw.com

West Group delivers a powerful competitive advantage to its customers by providing the best legal, regulatory and business information available and the innovative technology tools to manage it. The foremost provider of e-information solutions to the U.S. legal market, West Group has a 129-year tradition of innovation, peerless quality and customer focus at the core of every product and service it develops. In fact, putting the customer at the center of the business is key to West Group’s mission.

West Group offers a number of best-of-class Internet-based services, such as Westlaw®, the online service that contains more than 15,000 legal, financial and business news databases that include extensive information from daily newspapers, news magazines and business, financial and trade publications.

California Specific

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR)
www.canhr.org

CANHR is non-profit information and advocacy organization for nursing home residents providing consumer information on nursing homes, Medicaid and residents rights in California; training and information on estate planning and long-term care issues; lawyer referrals, etc. This website has extensive information on all 1,400 nursing facilities in California, postings on pending state legislation and legislative advocacy, and information for attorneys and estate planners.

CTElderLaw.Org
www.CTElderLaw.Org

CTElderLaw.Org is a consumer-oriented site providing comprehensive, current information on: legal assistance for seniors, numerous government assistance and health care programs (income programs such as Social Security, Supplemental Security Income and Connecticut’s state supplemental program, food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, and state-funded health and prescription medication programs), and several elder law issues (nursing homes, patients’ rights, living wills and other advance directives, powers of attorney, and funeral planning).

This site is the creation of the Elder Law Unit of Connecticut Legal Services, Inc., a nonprofit law firm. Initial funding for this site has been provided by the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging, the American Bar Association’s Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly, and the Connecticut Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

California Bar Association – Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Section
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_home.jsp

This is a small site with information on recent and pending state legislation and litigation relating to trusts and estates, but only through 1997.

Orange County California Office on Aging
http://www.officeonaging.ocgov.com

The Orange County Office on Aging serves as the lead advocate, planner and facilitator relative to all aging issues on behalf of all older persons in Orange County. Together with our partners, the Office on Aging provides a full range of senior services which are listed throughout the website, including information and assistance on programs and services available for older adults and their caregivers.

Alzheimer’s Family Services Center in Orange County

http://www.afscenter.org/

The Alona Cortes Elder Law Center at Chapman University
http://www.chapman.edu/law/programs/clinics/elder.asp

The Alona Cortese Elder Law Center was founded in 2000 to provide service to the needy elderly in Orange County. The Center partners with local legal aid organizations and pro bono attorneys to provide seniors with legal help. Services include will drafting, advance health care directives, representation at administrative hearings and addressing elder abuse. Students also help advise clients about their rights as consumers and how to avoid financial abuse.

Other Resources

American Association for Homecare
http://www.aahomecare.org

AAHomecare is the unified voice that represents all the elements of homecare under one roof. From home medical equipment to home health services and from re/hab technology to respiratory/infusion therapy, AAHomecare is dedicated to working to advance the value and practice of quality health care services at home. With over 3,000 members, AAHomecare is building a community of support for the homecare industry.