The growing number of older people in the United States challenges healthcare providers and policy makers alike to provide high quality care in an environment of shrinking resources. The PACE model's comprehensiveness of health and social services, its cost-effective coordinated system of care delivery, and its method of integrated financing have wide applicability and appeal.

In this population, we found significant ethnic variations in choice of health care wishes. Although health care wishes are an individual decision, an awareness of cross cultural patterns can assist practitioners in addressing the concerns of their patients, as well as assisting Health Care Policy Development.

Many caregivers reduce the number of hours they work to care for frail elderly relatives. The burden of reduced employment is more likely to be incurred by the families of ethnic minorities and of patients with specific clinical characteristics. Daughters and caregivers who live with the patient are more likely to reduce work hours than other caregivers. Future research should examine the impact of lost caregiver employment on patients' families and the ways in which the societal responsibility of caring for frail elders can be equitably shared.

The use of statins is associated with a lower prevalence of dementia and has a positive impact on the progression of cognitive impairment.

Overall, short-term hospital utilization among PACE participants is low in contrast with that for other older and disabled populations. Participant predictors of hospitalization in PACE are generally consistent with other studies in older clinical and community populations. Both utilization and risk vary considerably across PACE sites, independent of participant-level risk factors, hence suggesting that further investigation is required to study PACE's management of acute illness and hospitalization decisions. Critical to maintaining PACE's success is an understanding of the independent impact of the organization and the environment of health care on this management.