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The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is the premier professional organization of health care providers dedicated to improving the health and well-being of all older adults. With an active membership of over 6,800 health care professionals, the AGS has a long history of effecting change in the provision of health care for older adults. In the last decade, the Society has become a pivotal force in shaping attitudes, policies and practices regarding health care for older people.
The Society's roots were planted on June 11, 1942, when a group of physicians interested in advancing medical care for older adults met with the intention of forming a specialty society dedicated to geriatric medicine. At this inaugural meeting, the founding membership of the AGS decided that any physician with an interest in geriatrics who had graduated from a recognized medical school and was a member in good standing of a state medical society would be eligible to join the Society. A second meeting of the AGS was held in New York City in June of 1944. This was the inaugural AGS annual scientific meeting, which has occurred every year since 1946.
The American Geriatrics Society(AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit association of geriatrics health care professionals, research scientists, and other concerned individuals dedicated to improving the health, independence and quality of life of all older people.
The AGS promotes high quality, comprehensive and accessible care for America's older population, including those who are chronically ill and disabled. The organization provides leadership to health care professionals, policy makers and the public by developing, implementing and advocating programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy.
The goals of the American Geriatrics Society are:
To develop and promote quality, culturally sensitive interdisciplinary geriatric clinical care and to support practitioners providing such care.
To increase the number of health care professionals who are knowledgeable about and participate in the clinical care of older adults, and who seek to improve their quality of life.
To promote high quality research that expands knowledge of the aging process and addresses the health care problems of older people.
To conduct education programs for all health professionals that promote better understanding of the aging process and its unique clinical challenges.
To provide public education and information that addresses the health care concerns and needs of older people, their families and other caregivers.
To engage in public policy that focuses on the study, accessibility and improvement of culturally-sensitive health care and quality of life for older people, including preventive, rehabilitative, long-term and end-of-life care.
The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging (FHA) is a national non-profit organization established in 1999 by The American Geriatrics Society. The Foundation's seeks to build a bridge between the research and practice of geriatrics and the public, and to advocate on behalf of older adults and their special health care needs.
Nearly 25 percent of the American population will be over 65 within 30 years. For the first time in our history, people aged 85 and older represent the fastest growing of all age groups. It is because of the formidable challenges posed by this unprecedented "demographic imperative" that the American Geriatrics Society reached beyond its traditional role as a professional clinical society to launch in 1999 the first national public organization devoted solely to the special health care needs of older adults - The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging.
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