HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Department of Aging Secretary Jason Kavulich recently appeared as a guest on StateScoop Priorities podcast, a national platform where he discussed the Shapiro Administration’s new Comprehensive Aging Performance Evaluation (CAPE) tool, which is enhancing transparency and accountability to ensure local aging agencies are adequately serving older Pennsylvanians.
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging provides funding and oversees implementation of programs and services to help older adults. Most of those programs and services are delivered by and offered through Pennsylvania’s Area Agency on Aging (AAA) network.
The Shapiro Administration rolled out CAPE in March 2025 to completely overhaul the way the department collects, tracks and publicly reports performance results about local AAAs across the Commonwealth.
“We wanted to look at the entire performance of an Area Agency on Aging, give them a snapshot of how they’re performing, and also give them a roadmap where they need to do better and where they’re doing great,” Kavulich said. “There is a lot of good work going on, but their resources and their energy should be put on the places that need improvement, because we all can do better – each and every one of us, every day. This isn’t about getting to perfection. This is about continuous quality improvement of the work we administer in our Area Agencies on Aging in our service areas all across Pennsylvania.”
The new system provides enhanced transparency through the public reporting of performance metrics. CAPE also improved accountability by making available to the public the success rates for various performance measures for local AAAs, including their responsiveness to reported accusations of elder abuse.
Secretary Kavulich has been traveling across the Commonwealth, meeting with local AAAs to discuss the CAPE tool and how it is helping them serve older Pennsylvanians.
Secretary Kavulich’s appearance on StateScoop Priorities podcast can be accessed by visiting its website or downloading the episode through a listener’s favorite podcast app.
Older Pennsylvanians and others are encouraged to learn more by visiting the Pennsylvania Department of Aging online at pa.gov/Aging and by following the department on Facebook at facebook.com/PennsylvaniaAging, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/PaDepartmentOfAging.