Age-friendly care: What it is and how reporters should cover it

Age-friendly care: What it is and how reporters should cover it
Association of Health Care Journalists; by Liz Seegert; 9/13/24
You may have heard of age-friendly care... Age-friendly care, an initiative of The Institute for Health Care Improvement and The John A. Hartford Foundation, is modeled on the evidence-based 4Ms framework:

1. What matters most. Know and align care with each older adult’s specific outcome goals and care preferences, including but not limited to end-of-life care and across care settings.
2. Medication. If medication is necessary, use age-friendly medication that does not interfere with what matters most to the older adult (mobility or mentation) across care settings.
3. Mobility. Ensure that older adults move safely daily to maintain function and do what matters.
4. Mentation. Prevent, identify, treat and manage dementia, depression, and delirium across care settings.

Community Health Accreditation Partner (CHAP) [among others] provides an age-friendly designation for home care companies and has a collection of at-home resources and standards.