Hebrew SeniorLife Renames Award-Winning R3 Program Health Allies

Hebrew SeniorLife has announced that its award-winning program known as Right Care, Right Place, Right Time, or R3, will now operate under a new name: Health Allies. The rebranding reflects what organizers describe as a clearer expression of the program’s core mission, which is to embed healthy aging support directly into affordable senior housing communities across Greater Boston. According to the organization, the program is currently active in 18 affordable housing communities, where it connects older adults to the health care system in ways designed to keep them independent, engaged, and living well in their own homes.

Health Allies brings healthy aging teams into these housing communities to help residents navigate what can often be a confusing and fragmented health care landscape. The teams work alongside older adults to optimize their health and well-being, remain independent for as long as possible, and, in the words of the organization, enjoy their best possible lives. Rather than waiting for health problems to escalate into crises, the program emphasizes proactive engagement, meeting residents where they live and building relationships that support day-to-day health management.

Stephanie Small, the program’s Executive Director, explained the reasoning behind the new identity. “This new name better represents how our healthy aging teams partner with residents, introducing an integrated approach that promotes proactive health management, self-empowerment, and aging with optimal independence and dignity,” she said. The shift from the more logistical phrasing of Right Care, Right Place, Right Time to the relational framing of Health Allies signals a focus on partnership between professional staff and the residents they serve.

The operational model pairs nurse care managers and wellness coordinators with older adults living in the participating communities. These professionals help residents connect to services, support networks, and community resources; manage newly diagnosed or chronic health conditions; and navigate care transitions following a rehabilitation stay or hospital admission. Care transitions are widely recognized in geriatric research as moments of heightened vulnerability, when miscommunication between hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and home settings can lead to medication errors, missed follow-up appointments, and avoidable readmissions. By providing structured support during these windows, Health Allies aims to smooth the path back to stable health at home.

Beyond individual care coordination, the program has a documented effect on health care utilization and cost. Hebrew SeniorLife reports that by addressing issues before they become health emergencies and by supporting transitions of care, Health Allies helps reduce costs across the health care system. This preventive orientation is central to the program’s value proposition: keeping an older adult stable at home is generally less costly and less disruptive than an ambulance ride, an emergency department visit, or an inpatient admission.

The reported outcomes associated with the program are notable. Residents of communities served by Health Allies tend to remain in their own homes longer, are better prepared to manage their own health, and report living more fulfilled lives. The organization cites research showing a 16 percent decline in the inpatient hospitalization rate among participants, alongside a 19 percent decline in trips to the emergency room. Perhaps most striking is the level of satisfaction: 87 percent of participants said they would recommend the program to a friend, an unusually high endorsement rate for a health-related intervention.

Health Allies is not limited to clinical coordination. The program also offers fitness classes, educational workshops, health clinics, and other activities designed to help residents manage their health while avoiding loneliness and isolation. Social isolation among older adults is increasingly recognized as a significant health risk factor, associated with elevated rates of depression, cognitive decline, and mortality. By weaving social engagement into the fabric of daily life in affordable housing communities, the program addresses the social determinants of health alongside medical needs.

The initiative has attracted sustained external recognition over nearly a decade. It previously won the Pioneer Institute’s 2017 Better Government Competition, receiving that organization’s grand prize. In 2021, it earned The John A. Hartford Foundation’s Business Innovation Award, an honor tied to the foundation’s long-standing focus on improving care for older adults. Most recently, the program received the 2025 Innovation Igniter Award from the Association of Jewish Aging Services. Together, these awards trace a trajectory of growing recognition for a model that integrates housing and health care, an approach that policy experts have increasingly identified as critical to serving low-income older adults.

The program operates under the umbrella of Hebrew SeniorLife’s Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, which maintains a grant portfolio of 87 million dollars and conducts influential research on aging. Hebrew SeniorLife itself is a Harvard Medical School affiliate that cares for more than 4,500 older adults each day across seven campuses in Greater Boston. Its services span in-home care, outpatient therapies, a memory clinic, short- and long-term inpatient care, hospice, independent and assisted living, and affordable housing with services, and it trains future health care workers through its Lunder CareForce Institute.

As Health Allies moves forward under its new name, the underlying model remains the same: place trusted health professionals inside affordable senior housing, build partnerships with residents, intervene early, and support older adults in aging with independence and dignity. The renaming, according to the organization, is intended to communicate that partnership more clearly to the residents it serves and to the broader community of housing providers, health systems, and policymakers watching how housing-based health interventions can reshape care for an aging population.

Subject of Research: Renaming and model of a housing-integrated healthy aging program for older adults in affordable senior housing

Article Title: Hebrew SeniorLife’s Right Care, Right Place, Right Time is now Health Allies

Article References: Hebrew SeniorLife’s Right Care, Right Place, Right Time is now Health Allies. (n.d.). Original publication

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Keywords: Health Allies, Hebrew SeniorLife, healthy aging, affordable senior housing, care coordination, nurse care managers, care transitions, hospitalization reduction, emergency room visits, social isolation, aging research, Greater Boston