At the start of 2006, the AGS Board and staff set ambitious goals for the Society. In addition to continuing numerous initiatives, we added a wide range of new undertakings.

I'm pleased to report that, with the help of our members, we were well on our way to meeting our 2006 goals by early fall, when this newsletter went to press. Here's a brief overview of some, but certainly not all, of AGS' accomplishments to date in 2006:

Strategic Planning
In May, AGS' Board of Directors endorsed a plan that would increase efforts to raise public awareness of the need for high quality healthcare for older Americans, and to advocate for public policy supporting such care. The Board was explicit in its directive that this new emphasis would not come at the expense of other important activities. To operationalize our public outreach and policy initiatives, the AGS has reorganized and is recruiting new staff, including a director of Public Affairs and Strategic Alliances who will lead policy and public outreach efforts.

Publications and Online Resources
AGS published the 6th edition of the Geriatrics Review Syllabus (GRS6) and the 8th edition of Geriatrics at Your Fingertips (GAYF), which includes several completely new sections, in March. It published Doorway Thoughts: Cross-Cultural Healthcare for Older Adults, Volume 2, which focuses on eight additional ethnic groups, in May. The Society also updated its Geriatrics Review Syllabus Teaching Slides Web site, with information from GRS6.

Public Education
The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging (FHA) continued to promote and enhance its "Aging in the Know" Web site for older adults and their caregivers. The FHA added dozens of new patient information guides, elder health "tip sheets" and easy-to-understand briefs on the latest research in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Media Outreach
AGS and FHA continued to work with Environics Communications, a strategic communications firm, to reach media and raise awareness of issues concerning healthcare for older adults. AGS members who generously volunteered their time as media spokespeople were interviewed for such television and radio news programs, newspapers, and magazines as NBC News, The Wall Street Journal, MSN.com, The Chicago Tribune and Prevention. Since AGS and FHA began working with Environics Communications, we have heightened our media profile with the Society or its Foundation mentioned over 1,300 times during the first eight months of 2006.

Institute of Medicine Conference
AGS continued to contribute to efforts to convene an IOM conference that would both examine the readiness of the nation's healthcare workforce to meet the needs of an aging population and develop a blueprint for geriatric care in the 21st century. AGS is working closely with the John A. Hartford Foundation to bring potential funders and the IOM together. The IOM would oversee this independent study, which would result in a comprehensive report that would be broadly disseminated. AGS envisions this effort as a catalyst for change to ensure that all older persons have access to high-quality care in appropriate settings.

Membership
By late September, AGS had added nearly 1,000 new members, surpassing its goal of adding more than 850 new members in 2006, and boosting membership to nearly 6,600.

Residents and Students and Recruitment
AGS launched its "Careers in Geriatrics" Web page, this fall. The page, designed to give potential recruits a sense of the opportunities a background in geriatrics affords, profiles geriatrics healthcare professionals who've pursued a wide array of careers.

The Society also began offering free online memberships for residents and students in 2006 and continued its efforts to increase the number of student chapters, which now total 40.

For more on additional recruitment efforts, including new efforts to recruit residents to the field, see AGS Takes Steps to Entice More Residents into Geriatrics.

Member Communications and Advocacy
AGS redesigned and improved its Web site, making the site easier to navigate.

To help members stay abreast of public policy news related to the care of older adults, the Society launched a new Public Policy News page on the site. The page is updated regularly. AGS also launched its Health in Aging Advocacy Center, which highlights AGS' advocacy work concerning policies and initiatives that affect the health and well-being of older people. Tools on the site make it easy to send letters to legislators regarding these policies and initiatives.

Pay-For-Performance Measures
AGS continued its efforts to ensure that pay-for-performance measures, which are rapidly gaining support among Medicare officials and legislators, address the care of frail older adults and those with multiple chronic diseases.

As part of the American Medical Association's Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, for example, AGS played a significant role in assisting with the development of geriatrics measures for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS') Physician Voluntary Reporting Program, a demonstration project launched early in 2006. The proposed geriatrics measures concern urinary incontinence, falls, end of life care and care coordination. Among other things, AGS has also developed a formal relationship with the National Quality Forum, the congressionally recognized national medical standards-setting organization.

Title VII Geriatrics Health Professions Program Funding
AGS staff, leadership and members continued to urge Congress to restore funding for Title VII Geriatrics Health Professions Programs in FY 2007. Congress eliminated all funding for the programs in 2006, with disastrous results. AGS continues to organize meetings involving staff, Title VII grantees, and key legislators in the House and Senate; to send members and other interested parties alerts concerning key legislative initiatives; and facilitate advocacy on behalf of Title VII funding through its Health in Aging Advocacy Center. Funding was still uncertain in early fall and, as this Newsletter went to press, it was almost certain that a final decision on funding would not be made until after the November elections. The House Appropriations Committee, however, had earmarked $31.5 million for Title VII geriatrics programs in FY 2007. That move, which would restore Title VII funding to 2005 levels, was influenced by the intense advocacy efforts of AGS and the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs members.

Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
The Society and its members have continued to urge Congress to block the pending 5.1% cut in physician fees slated for January 1, 2007, and to support an alternative to the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate formula that mandates such cuts whenever increases in these payments outpace growth in Gross Domestic Product. For more on the fee schedule, see White House Council on Aging Issues Final Report.

Fundraising
At this writing, the FHA's Lifetime of Caring Gala was on track to meet its fund raising goal and, together, the Society and its Foundation were on track to meet their combined goal of raising $3.5 million in corporate and foundation funding by the end of the year.