Texas Healthy Lifestyles

In July 2006, United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt released more than $13 million over three years to improve the health and quality of life for older Americans. In all, Texas received $900,000 through 2009 to launch the Texas Healthy Lifestyles (TxHL) Project.

These funds were used to improve the health of Texans through lifestyle changes. These changes have proven effective in reducing the risk of disease and disability among older Texans. Within this first phase of TxHL, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) partnered with the following organizations to target 10 counties:

• Bexar County Area Agency on Aging,
• Brazos Valley Area Agency on Aging, and
• Neighborhood Centers Inc. in Houston, along with their local partners;

The TxHL grant disseminated evidence-based programs and effectively

• improved self-reported health status and symptom management,
• improved health behaviors, and
• reduced utilization of health care resources such as:  fewer hospitalizations, reduced use of the emergency room and reduced unnecessary physician visits.

In 2009, DADS secured an additional $200,000 from the Administration on Aging (AoA) to further programmatic efforts and services to the community partners funded through the original 2006 grant. In 2010, a $99,999 grant was awarded to empower these communities to sustain evidence-based prevention programs and expand services to 58 Texas counties within the regions of San Antonio, Houston and East Texas.

Chronic disease can negatively affect quality of life and threaten the ability of older adults to remain independent within their own homes and communities. The more chronic diseases a person has, the more likely they will become hospitalized. Two-thirds of all Medicare spending serves beneficiaries with five or more chronic conditions. The first baby boomers will turn 65 in 2011, and of these, more than 37 million - or 6 out of 10 - will be managing more than one chronic condition by 2030. In the future, 14 million boomers will be living with diabetes while almost half will live with arthritis (that number is expected to peak to just over 26 million by 2020).

Subsequently, in March 2010, Texas acquired a $1 million grant from the Administration on Aging American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to dramatically increase the capacity of Texas’ state and local partnerships to deliver evidence-based programs statewide. The second phase of TxHL focuses on the Better Choices, Better Health Program. Developed by Stanford University, Better Choices, Better Health encompasses the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) and Diabetes Self-Management Program (DSMP) which helps older Texans manage their chronic health conditions.

This partnership among DADS, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) (the single state Medicaid agency), HHSC’s Office of Border Affairs, and a coalition of area agencies on aging (AAAs) targets 67 counties throughout Texas. With this current initiative, Texas has expanded to five new geographic areas centered around El Paso, East Texas, Central Texas, Tarrant County and San Antonio. The AAA partners, chosen through a competitive process, have cumulatively committed to delivering Better Choices, Better Health in both English and Spanish to 4,098 people and to 2,975 course completers, from major Texas metropolitan areas, rural East Texas, and two tribal entities by Sept. 30, 2012.

The five local partners offering the Better Choices, Better Health Program are:

• Alamo and Bexar Area Agencies on Aging
• Area Agency on Aging of Central Texas
• The East Texas Area Agency on Aging Coalition
• Rio Grande Area Agency on Aging
• Area Agency on Aging of Tarrant County

In addition, working in conjunction with the DADS TxHL coordinator, a Texas A & M School of Rural Public Health evaluation team is developing a standardized evaluation protocol and providing training for the state and participating sites, data analysis, report writing and feedback to key stakeholders. 

The grants awarded have allowed the Texas to build an infrastructure that promotes health, prevention and disease self-management programs to bolster the state’s health and long-term care systems. In addition, TxHL has expanded a system of care that addresses the growing prevalence of chronic conditions by building statewide delivery systems and by developing the workforce that delivers these services. These prevention activities will strengthen the state’s healthcare infrastructure and reduce healthcare costs. 

The TxHL grant program builds on all aspects of the Aging Texas Well program and collaborates with DSHS and community partners to give Texans who are older better tools to maintain their health.

Brochures

• Better Choices, Better Health Information Program Flyer for Interested Participants

Reports

• THL State Wide Report March 2011
• THL State Wide Report January 2011
• THL State Wide Report January 2010 (pdf)

top of page

Updated: April 11, 2012