News
Creating Age-Friendly Health Systems
- By: USAging
- On: 09/28/2017 16:04:45
- In: Hot Topics in Aging
The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement have partnered to launch the Creating Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, which will develop and test models of care to measurably improve the quality of care older adults receive across health care settings.
As the number of older Americans increases, U.S. health care systems must adapt to the needs of those who have multiple chronic conditions and functional limitations. Older adults frequently receive uncoordinated care that does not meet their priorities or address their unique medical needs, and are often not connected to the vital social supports they need to maintain their health and function.
To address these issues, the Creating Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative partners five major health systems with geriatric care experts to implement four essential elements, or “4 Ms,” of geriatric care. These "4 Ms" are:
- What Matters: Understand and actively support what matters to older adults
- Mobility: Review mobility plans for each patient
- Medications: Discuss whether medications are unnecessary or potentially harmful
- Mentation: Improve mentation by addressing problems like dementia, delirium and depression
In partnership with the American Hospital Association, the initiative aims to rapidly spread the Age-Friendly Health Systems model to 20 percent of U.S. hospitals and health systems by 2020.
You can read more about the Creating Age-Friendly Health Systems Initiative here.
Through its age-friendly health system priority area, The John A. Hartford Foundation also funds n4a's Aging and Disability Business Institute.