Setting AGS Priorities

In May 2006, the American Geriatrics Society's Board of Directors endorsed a plan to increase AGS' emphasis on raising public awareness of the need for quality healthcare for older adults, and advocating for public policy that supports such care.

Under the plan, AGS continues to focus on its other historic priorities - building the geriatrics knowledge base; increasing the number of healthcare professionals employing principles of geriatrics care; and recruiting health professionals into geriatrics careers - as well. Public outreach and advocacy efforts, however, get additional emphasis.

The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit organization that uses management strategies to help other nonprofits become more effective, developed the plan in consultation with AGS staff and board members. Support from the Atlantic Philanthropies made the planning process possible.

In endorsing the plan, the Board agreed to move forward with several projects and initiatives aimed at enlisting the public and other professional organizations in efforts to bring about needed changes in public policy. Among the projects on the list was the AGS' online Health in Aging Advocacy Center which launched in March 2006. Via emails, online alerts, and electronic advocacy campaigns, the Center made it easy for members and others to stay apprised of and involved in advocacy efforts supporting policies and initiatives that enhance elder care throughout the year.

In keeping with the new plan, the AGS also continued to encourage and support its state affiliates' efforts to influence aging policy and issues at the state level in 2006. And it continued to assist the Institute of Medicine with its ongoing study assessing the readiness of the nation's healthcare workforce to meet the needs of an aging society. The AGS first proposed such a study in its watershed 2005 report, Caring for Older American: The Future of Geriatric Medicine, and the Society's leadership and staff advocated for the initiative, collaborating with the Hartford Foundation to bring funders and the IOM together. The IOM panel conducting the study includes several AGS members. Its report, which will provide a blueprint for elder healthcare in the 21st century, is slated for release in March 2008. The AGS also worked to establish strategic alliances and partnerships with other non-profit aging and human service organizations and their members over the course of 2006.