About The Project

The People Say is an online research hub that features first-hand insights from older adults and caregivers on the issues most important to them, as well as feedback from experts on policies affecting older adults.

This project particularly focuses on the experiences of communities often under-consulted in policymaking, including older adults of color, those who are low income, and/or those who live in rural areas where healthcare isn’t easily accessible. The People Say is funded by The SCAN Foundation and developed by researchers and designers at the Public Policy Lab.

We believe that effective policymaking listens to most-affected communities—but policies and systems that serve older adults are typically formed with little to no input from older adults themselves. We hope The People Say will help policymakers hear the voices of older adults when shaping policy.

What Problems Does 'The People Say' Solve?

Health and aging policies and systems are designed from the system perspective, rather than that of the consumer. There is a need to elevate what members of the public actually want if government policies and healthcare-delivery systems are to reflect their needs—and generate awareness and competition among regulators, providers, and payers to respond to those needs.

When advocates, policymakers, and providers do seek to learn from older adults, those engagements often have significant limitations, which The People Say seeks to solve.

Focus on Priority Populations

When current research refers to older adults, particularly people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, it often describes this population being heterogeneous—but it doesn't break down the real differences among populations. Research often fails to prioritize marginalized or vulnerable people and tailor research questions and activities to those populations—even though marginalized populations are most at risk of harm if policy fails to account for their needs.

While there's a growing interest in developing 'people-centered' systems and policies, government is ill-equipped to conduct this research, leaving a knowledge gap that needs to be filled. If major themes related to the needs of different populations can be identified, policy stakeholders can develop 'flavors' of policy that speak to different community or life situations, rather than overemphasizing individualized services (which can be perceived as unachievable and expensive).

Capture the Lived Experiences of Older Adults

In addition, policy recommendations often rely solely on survey and claims data, and stakeholders can generally find refuting data points. A more effective approach is to couple survey and claims data with human-centered design, to not only capture what people experience, but also why and how they feel about their experiences.

However, currently, human-centered research efforts are often structured as one-time activities, even though health access and delivery are experienced as a series of touchpoints over time—eading to limited understanding of how people’s requirements evolve as their health, financial, housing, and other personal circumstances change over the decades after they turn 65. If stakeholders can be presented with compelling narratives that illuminate the real needs of older adults- and importantly—how those needs evolve over time—they’ll be more likely to take action.

Address the Urgent Need to Engage in System and Policy Changes Now

America’s population is aging rapidly, and neither our healthcare systems nor our social policy are responding with appropriate urgency. Millions of baby boomers are already turning 65, and their children and grandchildren—or ill-prepared safety-net services—are shouldering their care, with poor outcomes for both older adults and society at large. One reason for the lack of urgent action (among many) is that the insights gathered from existing research with older adults often remain siloed within commissioning organizations and agencies, rather than being disseminated to a coalition of engaged stakeholders as compelling data to inform policymaking and healthcare innovation nationwide.

By developing the right kind of public data, from the highest priority populations, while building a coalition of committed partners to use that data, The People Say hopes to shift the conversation on what needs to be done to build a society that works for older adults, their families, and all of us.

What Have We Built?

To address the problems above, we've formed a pool of older adults engaged with The People Say for ongoing human-centered research. We've compiled data on their preferences and experiences, then launched this platform—designed for use by advocates, policymakers and other stakeholders—to highlight actionable findings and insights about older adults' health and wellbeing needs.

Profile photos of eight members of the research pool

We made a research pool of older adult participants—representative of all older Americans, but over-sampled on marginalized populations —with the intention and related infrastructure to be able to return to that pool regularly over time, both to conduct follow-on research related to this project and also to address other specific research questions.

An array of different types of qualitative data hosted on The People Say

We also made a repository of tagged research data, including both synthesized insights from research and direct quotes, transcripts, photographs, audio and video recordings, and or other artifacts from research with—or created by—members of the pool of older adults, all categorized per a taxonomy developed by the project team.

A screenshot of the search page for The People Say

Lastly, we made The People Say, this online platform, to publicly share out findings and insights generated with those older adults regarding their healthcare access and delivery experiences, designed to highlight opportunities for national policy change and nationwide healthcare-systems improvement.

What Are Our Goals?

The overarching goal of this project is to support the development of policies, systems, and programs that are more reflective of needs and preferences of older adults. The project team has hopes for three immediate outcomes from The People Say,

Easier Access to Input from Older Adults

The standing research pool will reduce recruiting and outreach difficulty, allowing the Public Policy Lab, The SCAN Foundation, and partner organizations to more frequently and rapidly seek older adults' input and/or participation in goal-setting and decision-making.

Better Support for Policymaking Based on Public Needs

The research repository will allow users of The People Say to better identify older adults' needs and preferences and to convey that analysis in more human and compelling ways, given the easy availability of rich visual and audio assets associated with data points.

More Effective and Human-Centered Policy Advocacy

The People Say will create new opportunities to advocate urgently for improvement in policies and services for older adults. See our insights for areas where we believe there's opportunity for policy action.

What's Next

Learn more about what's next for The People Say.