Taking stock of the past year before writing this column -- my last as AGS' president -- I was struck by the role collaboration played in so many of the Society's accomplishments since my term began. I was also convinced that broadening our collaborations even further will be critical to our future success.

Collaboration was key to our work on behalf of a new Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, spearheaded by IOM President Harvey Fineberg, MD, PhD, that will examine the readiness of the nation's healthcare workforce to meet the needs of its aging population. AGS proposed the project in The Future of Geriatric Medicine, and the Society's leadership and staff advocated for the initiative. Collaboration with the Hartford Foundation brought potential funders and the IOM together. A consortium of organizations has funded the project and the IOM has begun work on the report. In a further collaboration, AGS, its Foundation for Health in Aging, the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs (ADGAP), and funders of the initiative will work to disseminate the findings of the report.

Collaboration also helped us make progress toward other key goals over the course of the year. Scores of AGS members and other advocates of quality healthcare for older Americans joined the AGS Health in Aging Advocacy Center's campaign to urge Congress to block a 5% Medicare physician fee cut that was slated to take effect January 1. Congress listened, voting to avert the cut. Since its inception last May, the Advocacy Center has launched more than a dozen campaigns -- campaigns that have garnered nearly 2,000 participants, who have sent twice that number of letters to roughly 400 members of Congress - over 70% of Congress. As this issue of AGS News went to press it appeared another advocacy campaign would bear fruit. In the wake of a year-and-a-half long advocacy campaign to restore funds for Title VII Geriatrics Health Professions Programs, the House of Representatives approved a measure to restore funding for the programs this fiscal year and the Senate was expected to follow suit. Hundreds of AGS and ADGAP members, the Society and other supporters worked tirelessly on the campaign, urging legislators to restore the funds, which were eliminated in 2005, with disastrous results. These programs, as you know, are essential to addressing the growing, nationwide shortage of geriatrics healthcare professionals, and ensuring that older Americans have access to quality healthcare.

Over the course of the year, AGS was called on to participate in major collaborative endeavors influencing the future of internal medicine certification and education. As president I had the opportunity to participate in the AAIM-ABIM-ACP Consensus Conference on Education Redesign for internal medicine residency programs. AGS had a seat alongside other specialties. Our chief recommendations was that geriatrics should receive equal weight with other specialties in the curriculum of residents as part of educational redesign. This recommendation was bolstered by the fact that the ABIM had just recognized geriatrics, and other fields it formerly recognized with Certificates of Added Qualifications, as Subspecialties of Internal Medicine.

In a second series of meetings sponsored by ABIM this past year, AGS representatives provided our perspective on certification in both ambulatory internal medicine and hospital-based internal medicine. In both cases, AGS was able to drive home the importance of geriatrics knowledge in certification of specialists in these venues.

To raise awareness of the shortage of geriatric providers and other key aging issues, a great many AGS members collaborated in yet another way this past year by working with the media - giving interviews issues on aging as they arose. (Having participated in a number of these I appreciate the work involved.) Thanks to the many dedicated members who volunteered as media spokespeople, the AGS is quickly becoming the 'go to' organization for coverage of aging.

In addition to calling for continued efforts to advance geriatrics research and education, AGS' new strategic plan, adopted last spring, also calls for increased efforts to raise public awareness of the importance of geriatrics care, step up recruitment into geriatrics health professions -- and collaborate with our sister aging organizations to influence public policy at both the state and national level.

While AGS has excellent working relationships with major medical organizations, our relationships with other aging organizations are surprisingly underdeveloped. It's as if we know our cousins better than our sisters and brothers. To address this, AGS will be pursuing a number of initiatives. Among other things, it plans to work to create a Council of Professional Aging Organizations that can establish a priority agenda and speak with one voice on common issues.

By working together in this and other ways we can accomplish even more.