AGS Announcements

AGS' Office Will Be Closed Friday July 3 for Independence Day Holiday; Look for Next Issue of AGS News Week in Review on July 14
The AGS office will be closed this Friday, July 3, for the Independence Day holiday. We wish you an enjoyable holiday weekend. AGS Week in Review will not publish next Tuesday; look for the next issue in your Inbox on July 14.

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AGS Board and Committee Applications Open

Call for Nominations to AGS Board of Directors
The AGS is now accepting nominations for three-year terms on the AGS Board of Directors. These terms will commence in May 2010. Nominees must be members in good standing of the Society. Nomination packages are due in the AGS office by October 1, 2009. Self nominations will also be accepted.
Listing of current AGS Board members
Board Member Roles and Responsibilities

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2010 Call for Applications for AGS Committee Service
AGS is now accepting applications for three-year terms on AGS committees. These terms will commence in May 2010. AGS members who wish to serve on an AGS committee should complete an online application form, and send the requested additional application materials that include two letters of support from current AGS Board and/or Committee members, and a 2-page biographical sketch or short curriculum vitae to Anne Marie Evriviades at aevriviades@americangeriatrics.org by December 15, 2009. Any committee member whose term ends in 2010 and wishes to reapply for an additional 3-year term should also complete an online application form. To provide a letter of support for a potential AGS Standing Committee member, please use an electronic form.
Learn More About AGS Committees
Committee Member Roles and Responsibilities

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Spotlight on Member Benefits: Updated "My AGS" Members-Only Portal Provides Easier Access to Member Resources
AGS' members-only portal, MyAGS, has been updated to give members even easier access to our many online member resources.

Your login and password have changed now that the portal has been updated -- but logging in is easy: Your default user name is your primary email address and your default password is your five-digit member ID number. (If you don't remember your ID number, click on the "forgot your password" link on the login page and it will be emailed to you.) You can use the Change My Password link under Member Services (on the Resources/Tools bar before Get Involved) to select a new password for the updated MyAGS.

With the updated portal, you now have the ability to update your member profile and find other members online using the new online membership directory, check your membership status, change your contact information, upload profile photos, opt into the FHA's referral service and review your transactions.

Once you log on, you'll notice links to My Information, My Transactions, My Committees and the Member Directory under the Member Services tab. Here's what these features offer and how you can use them:

My Information

• Edit your name, certification and degree information under Individual Information
• Edit your Primary Contact information and specify which address you want to use for mailings, the Member Directory and the FHA Referral Service
• Edit your options under My AGS Member Services Members to opt in for the List Serv and Physician Referral Service and opt out of receiving hard copy mailings

My Transactions

• The Expires/Term End Date shows your current membership status.
• Renew or Rejoin your AGS, ADGAP and affiliate dues

Member Directory

• Search for current AGS members by Last Name, Area, Specialty, Committee or ADGAP participation

Questions? Please contact the AGS Membership Department at (800) 247-4779 or membership@americangeriatrics.org.

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What's Up in Washington

AGS and Other Members of the Eldercare Workforce Alliance Visit and Phone Lawmakers on Alliance's "Hill Day," Urging Reforms to Strengthen Eldercare
Members of the American Geriatrics Society and other organizations that comprise the Eldercare Workforce Alliance (EWA) visited and called scores of lawmakers and Congressional staff last Tuesday to urge passage of legislation aimed at strengthening the eldercare workforce. The same day, the Alliance published a full-page ad in Roll Call listing key healthcare reforms essential to ensuring older adults access to appropriate care

Members of AGS and other EWA organizations visited and made more than 250 calls to the offices of U.S. senators and representatives to advocate for legislation that would train and support elder healthcare professionals, direct-care workers, and family caregivers.

EWA co-convener and AGS Deputy Executive Vice President and COO, Nancy Lundebjerg met with, among others, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and her staff. Rep. Schakowsky and Senate Aging Committee Chair, Herb Kohl (D-WI) are co-sponsors of "The Retooling the Health Care Workforce for An Aging America Act," legislation that would implement key recommendations from the Institute of Medicine's groundbreaking report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce. Ms. Lundebjerg also met with the staff of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), sponsor, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), of the "Caring for An Aging America Act." This legislation would establish much-needed loan forgiveness programs and other supports for healthcare providers entering geriatrics. AGS assisted with the legislation by providing Sens. Boxer and Collins' staff with information concerning the nation's growing shortage of elder healthcare providers. AGS has also assisted with other important legislation, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's (R-FL) "Geriatrics Loan Forgiveness Act."

"Today's "Hill Day" is part of our ongoing efforts to raise awareness that, as the Institute of Medicine concluded, our eldercare workforce is too small and unprepared to care for our rapidly growing population of older adults, and to ask Congress to address this serious problem," said Ms. Lundebjerg, who also met with Wendell Primus, Senior Policy Advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and key Congressional staff for Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Diane DeGette (D-CO) and Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) on Tuesday. "We are working with members of Congress and their staff to provide information about and insights into current eldercare challenges and potential solutions."

During their Hill visits, members of the AGS and other EWA organizations urged Congress to:

• Expand the Geriatrics Health Professions Education and Training Programs under Titles VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act to increase the supply of essential healthcare professionals.
• Provide loan forgiveness for training in geriatrics.
• Support appropriate care-coordination services under Medicare and Medicaid.
• Extend greater federal minimum wage and overtime protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act to 1,500,000 home care workers.
• Provide training and support for direct-care workers and family caregivers
• Increase the federal match for all home- and community-based services funded under Medicaid.

Click here for more information about the Eldercare Workforce Alliance and its legislative priorities.

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Got A Minute? Top Health Policy News Picks
AGS staff and public policy advisors continue to keep an eye out for top healthcare policy stories that our members should read. This week we recommend the five picks below.

Obama and Congress Clash on How to Pay for Health Care

Finance Committee Senators: Reform Bill Trimmed To Less Than $1 Trillion

Critics Escalate Attacks On Health Care Overhaul

Obama steps up push for healthcare reform this year

Older Doctors Stay On Job Amid Primary Care Shortage

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New on the Web

Q2 2009 Issue of AGS News Now Available Online
The second-quarter 2009 edition of AGS News, the Society's quarterly newsletter, is now posted online.

A feature about the new AGS President, Cheryl L. Phillips, MD, AGSF is among the stories in the new edition. Dr. Phillips, along with new AGS board and committee members, began their service during AGS' 2009 Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago.

The Q2 newsletter also provides highlights from the Scientific Meeting, including the Student Researcher Fund perennial favorite, "An Evening with Friends." Other annual meeting highlights previewed in the newsletter include the second annual "Get Up and Go: A Falls Prevention Program" where 30 AGS and FHA volunteers -- all visiting Chicago for AGS' 2009 Annual Scientific Meeting -- offered Windy City seniors and others free falls screenings, along with information about falls prevention, elder health, and the many services the AGS and FHA provide.

The newsletter also reports on the AGS' newly released Clinical Practice Guideline on the Management of Persistent Pain in Older Adults. In a significant departure from AGS' previous guideline, published in 2002, the updated document advises that both non-selective, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and COX-2 selective inhibitors be considered rarely, with extreme caution, and only in highly selected elderly patients.

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Other News

"Too few doctors practicing geriatric medicine", AGS members Mary Tinetti and Leo Cooney write in an OpEd in Sunday's edition of the Hartford Courant
AGS members Drs. Mary Tinetti and Leo Cooney were featured in the Sunday edition of the Hartford Courant with their OpEd on the shortage of geriatricians. In "Too few doctors practicing geriatric medicine", Drs. Tinetti and Cooney remind their readers that there is a shortage of geriatricians and other geriatrics health care providers in Connecticut as well as across the nation. They point to efforts by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to alleviate the shortage by introducing loan forgiveness bills in the House and Senate respectively.

Interested in authoring an OpEd -- the AGS Grassroots Media Toolkit, accessible via the members-only My AGS portal, includes easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides to writing Letters to the Editor, Op-Eds for members. You can also take action in the Health in Aging Advocacy Center - ask your Senator to support inclusion of S. 750, the Caring for an Aging America Act, in health reform today.

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New Online Tool Compares Key Legislative Proposals for Healthcare Reform
You can now compare detailed summaries of health reform legislation proposed by three key House committees and by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee using the Kaiser Family Foundation's updated online reform proposal comparison tool

The tool now allows you to compare nine major Congressional health reform proposals, including those drafted by: the Senate Finance Committee; Sens. Tom Coburn and Richard Burr and Reps. Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes; Rep. John Conyers; Rep. John Dingell; Sen. Bernie Sanders; Rep. Pete Stark; and Sens. Ron Wyden and Bob Bennett. The tool also gives you access to a summary of President Obama's reform goals.

When using the tool, you can choose which proposals to compare, and focus on specific characteristics of those proposals, including coverage, cost containment and financing. The tool also allows users to print out a comparison of all the plans together or a version that includes the current House and Senate authorizing committee proposals.

The Foundation will continue to update the tool to reflect major new proposals and significant changes to plans already introduced. The comparison tool is one of many helpful resources on the Kaiser Family Foundation's health reform gateway page, a centralized source for information, news and analyses of national health reform efforts.

The gateway also includes briefs explaining key health reform concepts, Foundation research on such issues as the consequences of expanding the Medicaid program, webcasts of reporters-only briefings with key Congressional leaders, Kaiser's polling data on health reform, columns from Kaiser president Drew Altman about health reform, and relevant news summaries by the Foundation's Kaiser Health News team.

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Upcoming Deadlines

Request for Proposals for Research Concerning Sarcopenia in Older Adults; Research to Be Part of Effort, in Which AGS Will Play Key Role, to Develop Clinical Definitions of Sarcopenia and Other Geriatric Syndromes
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health's (FNIH) Biomarkers Consortium is now accepting proposals for research central to the development of guidelines for the diagnosis of sarcopenia. This research will be part of a greater effort -- in which the AGS will play a key role -- to develop clinical definitions of sarcopenia and multiple geriatric syndromes for practice and research.

The FNIH's Biomarkers Consortium is seeking proposals to analyze existing data sets to support the development of guidelines for the diagnosis of sarcopenia, muscle weakness and indicators of treatment benefit. Investigators who have access to large, longitudinal cohorts and data on muscle mass and parameters of function, and are interested both in analyzing that data using analysis protocols developed with a collaborative group, and in participating in a post-analysis conference, are encouraged to apply. The FNIH will be awarding 12-month awards of $40,000 to as many as six institutions. The deadline for proposals is September 8 and FNIH will announce award recipients on December 7.

The Biomarkers Consortium, a major public-private biomedical research partnership, was established in October 2006 by the FINH, the NIH, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) to develop new biomarkers and strengthen the evidence for using these to help diagnose, measure disease progression, guide treatment, accelerate drug development and target therapies to individuals. The consortium's Metabolic Disorders Steering Committee will be overseeing the "Sarcopenia Project."

"Currently there are no criteria by which sarcopenia is defined and its severity classified, but the approval of therapies for sarcopenia depends on the creation of clear definitions of diagnosis and treatment," says AGS member and Sarcopenia Project Principal Investigator Stephanie Studenski, MD, MPH, AGSF of the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine. "The goal of this project is to develop preliminary guidelines for the diagnosis of sarcopenia by answering two main questions: "What is a clinically important degree of muscle weakness in older adults?" and "Among older adults who are weak, what proportion demonstrate low muscle mass as a potentially treatable contributor?""

Research funded by the six 12-month awards will support the first phase of the Sarcopenia Project. The AGS will play a leading role in phase II, convening representatives from leading organizations to review findings from phase I. Phase II is expected to begin in 2010. The project is the evolution of a proposal that was reviewed and approved by the AGS leadership and research committees and the AGS Board in 2008.

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Apply Now to Attend 6th Annual AGS/NIA/Hartford Bedside-to-Bench Conference: "Inflammation and Nutrient Metabolism," Deadline for Travel Grant Applications is July 15
Applications to attend "Inflammation and Nutrient Metabolism" -- the sixth Bedside-to-Bench research conference sponsored by the American Geriatrics Society, the National Institute on Aging, and the John A. Hartford Foundation -- are now being accepted. The conference is slated for September 9-11, at the Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

The 2 ½ day conference will focus on the interrelationship between nutrient metabolism and inflammation in older adults. Older people who become protein-energy undernourished are at high risk for adverse clinical outcomes, but nutrition support often fails to prevent or reverse these adverse outcomes. The reasons for the ineffectiveness of nutrition support are not understood. Presenters will discuss findings from research concerning disease models, normal aging and inflammation, and inflammation and micro-nutrients/macro-nutrients. The conference will also explore current limitations and future directions.

The number of participants in the conference will be limited to promote interaction and small group work. To be eligible to attend, faculty and research fellows must have at least 1-2 years of research experience in a related field; hold an MD or PhD degree; and have an academic appointment as a research fellow, instructor, or faculty member in the United States. Women, minorities and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

As many as 20 travel awards for faculty and research fellows will be made. These awards will cover the conference registration fee, hotel, meals and per diem for the 2 ½ day conference, up to $550 for airfare and ground transportation.

To apply for a travel grant, please email an NIH-formatted biographical sketch and a brief statement (no more than 250 words) to Anne Marie Evriviades at aevriviades@americangeriatrics.org. Please note the subject of your email: "2009 Bedside-to-Bench Travel Grant Application" and provide your name, affiliation, address and ethnicity. Your brief statement should summarize your prior research training, research accomplishments related to the subject of the conference, career plans and goals for attending the conference. The deadline for applying for a travel grant is July 15.
Travel grant recipients will be notified by August 3.

For more information please contact Ms. Evriviades at 212-308-1414 or aevriviades@americangeriatrics.org.

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