Originally, the Center was competitively awarded by U.S. Administration on Aging as the National Long-Term Care Decision Center.  It was designed to be a resource to help older people themselves, aging network personnel, health and human services workers, and policy makers make better decisions about long-term supports for older people.  Its focal topic areas were:

►    Assessment

►    Case management

►    Ethics in long-term care

►    Preferences of older people

►    Linkages between long-term care and other related health and human services, such as (on the one hand) primary, acute and preventive health care, and rehabilitation and (on the other hand) aging services, social services and housing.

The Center was directed from its inception by Rosalie A. Kane, Ph.D.  Its first full-time coordinator was Kris Urv-Wong, followed by Mary Olsen Baker.  In the years of AOA funding, the Center worked collaboratively with the National Academy for State Health Policy under a subcontract led by Robert M. Mollica.

Early funders, in addition to AOA, included the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Retirement Research Foundations, the States of Hawaii, Kansas, Minnesota and South Carolina.