Like so many New Yorkers in and around my age, my family and I find ourselves facing the challenges of supporting an aging loved one who requires expert care. Identifying and accessing the resources necessary to help enable them to continue to live with dignity is a Herculean task. And this problem isn’t going anywhere; Americans alive today will live longer than any generation before, and New York is fourth in the nation in terms of our aging population. Only five years from now New York State is projected to have more than 1.2 million residents over 80 years old. The costs — material and otherwise — of elder care are straining families and whole economies alike. The recent publication of New York’s Master Plan for Aging is a vital step towards preparing for our future, which must include effective oversight of an increasingly complex set of interconnected systems.

As State Inspector General, I am mindful that the introduction of programs and facilities requires the development of quality control mechanisms to identify gaps and prevent misconduct. As successive generations live longer and longer, and our........

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