PACE Physician Provides Testimony for Committee Hearing on Fall Prevention
Washington, DC – May 20, 2026 – Stephen Szeto, MD, a physician at North East Medical Services (NEMS), a Federally Qualified Health Center that operates a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), submitted written testimony for a Senate committee hearing today on “Preventing Falls, Preserving Independence: Technology, Community Programs and Innovation in Senior Safety.” The hearing was held by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, which is led by Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), chair, and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), ranking member.
“My current work focuses on piloting fall-related technologies within our PACE population,” stated Dr. Szeto. He outlined the Fall Resilience Continuum, a paradigm shift from the traditional concept of fall prevention. The three phases of the continuum are rehabilitating a person’s capacity to protect themselves, limiting injury when a fall occurs, and sustaining recovery through community.
Each year, he reported, more than one in four adults age 65 and over experiences a fall. Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries in this population, accounting for more than 38,000 deaths annually. Current costs to the health care system exceed $80 billion, with the majority of the burden borne by Medicare and Medicaid.
“These are not simply statistics about aging or frailty,” he said. “They are a measure of how far our current policy framework is falling short and a clear opportunity for meaningful change.”
Drawing on his training and clinical experience, Dr. Szeto urged the committee to consider six evidence-informed policy changes:
- adopt the Fall Resilience Continuum into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths and Injuries (STEADI) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) fall-related quality measures as the national framework for falls policy;
- fund research and innovation that rebuilds balance, strength and intrinsic protective capacity in older adults;
- recognize injury mitigation as a distinct and fundable category of safety innovation;
- expand and modernize access to PACE, including expansion to all 50 states, anytime enrollment and streamlined application processes;
- enable PACE organizations to serve as innovation hubs for emerging fall-related technologies; and
- establish national caregiver workforce standards, competency expectations, quality reporting and sustainable reimbursement support.
Dr. Szeto noted that the National PACE Association (NPA) has long championed the principle that community integration is essential to preserving senior health, dignity and independence. To build a sustainable national framework for fall resilience, federal policy must strengthen two pillars simultaneously: formal community-based programs like PACE and the caregiver workforce.
PACE improves health outcomes and reduces unnecessary health care utilization and taxpayer costs, he said, yet only 4 percent of eligible older adults currently have access to the program because of administrative and structural barriers. Expanding PACE would not only increase access to care, it would create a structured clinical environment where emerging fall-related technologies could be evaluated responsibly in the populations that need them most.
“The Fall Resilience Continuum is an evidence-based framework that captures the full reality of falls as a complex clinical and public health challenge,” Dr. Szeto said. “By shifting our national target from zero falls to zero severe injuries, we can preserve the independence and dignity of older adults who wish to remain in their communities.”
PACE programs are where all three phases of the continuum can converge at scale, he concluded. “Expanding PACE, modernizing access, and supporting the responsible adoption of emerging technologies are among the most meaningful actions Congress can take to improve senior safety while preserving independence.”