It’s been a busy summer as the AGS staff settled into our new headquarters office at 40 Fulton Street.  If you are going to be in the neighborhood, please feel free to stop by for a tour of our space.

In addition to grappling with the logistics of a major move, staff and AGS leaders have been hard at work on a number of fronts.  Our work on the update of the Beers Criteria proceeds apace.  Our expert panel, co-chaired by Todd Semla, PharmD (AGS Past President), and Donna M. Fick, PhD, GCNS-BC, convened for a two-day meeting in early August and made a great deal of progress on the update. 

Incidentally, Donna worked with Dr. Mark Beers on both the original list and the abbreviated update in 2003. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) asked us to take on this project given how integral the criteria are to a number of quality measures and in regulatory work.  Summer also saw our Multi-Morbidity panel, co-chaired by Matt McNabney, MD, and Cynthia Boyd, MD, meeting for two days in Baltimore.  Both projects are moving forward and we’ll be launching the work of the two groups at major plenary sessions at our AGS 2012 Annual Meeting (registration opens in January 2012). 

Speaking of the annual meeting, August brought our Annual Meeting Program Committee, chaired by Belinda Vicioso, MD, to New York for a one day meeting to plan the agenda for next year.  The 2012 meeting theme is “Patient Safety and Quality:  What Geriatrics has to Offer.”  Our thanks to all the AGS members who participated in our open review of proposals—your input will make for a strong program that is tailored to your and our field’s needs.

In our national advocacy and regulatory work, we continue our efforts to ensure that the unique knowledge and clinical expertise of geriatrics healthcare providers is well represented in the national movement to improve patient care quality, safety, and efficiency.  I encourage all of you to read AGS News, our weekly listserv and main vehicle for providing you with up-to-date information on AGS’ involvement in the development and analysis of quality measures and other aspects of ensuring care quality and safety for older adults.  (To assure its greatest value to you, please let us know how we can continue to make our listserv a more vibrant resource.  Send your comments to AGS Communications Coordinator, Jillian Lubarsky, at jlubarsky@americangeriatrics.org).

The quality improvement movement is a comprehensive national effort involving numerous stakeholder organizations representing government, industry, labor, health plans, healthcare professionals, and consumers.  For an organization of AGS’ size, we have achieved significant representation in national quality work focused on chronicity, care coordination and transitions, assessment and screening, quality of life, and other key areas that affect our patients.

Since the AGS Board determined to invest more in public policy efforts in its 2006 strategic plan for the society (see AGS public policy advocacy article in this issue), we have seen many AGS representatives appointed to committees and advisory groups of the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA), National Quality Forum (NQF), and the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement® (PCPI™) convened by the American Medical Association.  Some of our most recent appointments include:

• NCQA Geriatrics Measurement Advisory Panel:  Adrienne Mims, MD
• NQF Resource Use Bone/Joint Technical Advisory Panel:  Craig Rubin, MD
• NQF Resource Use Cancer Technical Advisory Panel:  Louise Walters, MD
• NQF Multiple Chronic Conditions Measurement Framework Project:  Caroline Blaum, MD, MS, was appointed Co-chair of the Steering Committee, and Cynthia Boyd, MD, of Johns Hopkins University is leading the research team along with AGS members Bruce Leff, MD, and Erin Giovannetti, PhD.
• NQF Steering Committee for the Care Coordination Project (Phase I):  Matt McNabney, MD, was selected as a member.

In October 2010, NQF began soliciting nominations for its Measures Application Partnership (MAP), which was created to provide input to the Department of Health and Human Services on the selection of performance measures for public reporting and performance-based payment programs.  Under this framework, NQF has established a number of work groups and AGS was selected as an organizational member of the Dual Eligibles Work Group.   Our appointments to the MAP work groups include:

• Work Group on Dual Eligibles:  Steven Counsell, MD, and I were appointed as members (I will be serving as the AGS representative)
• Work Group on Hospitals:  Sean Morrison, MD (individual expert in palliative care)
• Work Group on Post-Acute/Long Term Care:
  • Bruce Leff, MD (individual expert in geriatrics)
  • Debra Saliba, MD, MPH (individual expert in measure methodology)
  • Tom von Sternberg, MD (individual expert in health IT)
• Coordinating Committee:  Cheryl Phillips, MD, AGS past president, will be representing Leading Age where she is now senior vice president for advocacy.

All AGS members can help to ensure that quality measures are relevant to the care of older adults and the work of geriatrics healthcare providers, by participating in the periodic calls for public comment on quality measures announced in our listserv.  You can also learn more by visiting the AGS, NCQA, NQF, and PCPI websites. If you are interested in representing the AGS in our quality work, please contact Susie Sherman, Coordinator, Public Affairs and Advocacy at ssherman@americangeriatrics.org.

And please also don’t hesitate to contact me at jhansen@americangeriatrics.org with any input or questions you may have.

Jennie Chin Hansen
Chief Executive Officer
American Geriatrics Society