Among the noteworthy developments during AGS' 2007 annual scientific meeting this May was the Board of Directors' move to adopt a slate of public policy priorities -- and strategies to achieve these priorities -- for the coming year. (See related story)

AGS has been involved in policy advocacy aimed at enhancing healthcare for older Americans for much of its history. The Board's efforts to identify and endorse a strategic lineup of policy priorities, however, are important steps toward increasing AGS' role in the policy arena. As you know, the Society's new strategic plan places increased emphasis on raising public awareness of the need for quality healthcare for an aging populace and on advocating for policy supporting such care. Both are integral to effecting legislative and regulatory changes that benefit the field and our older patients.

As I noted while making my first remarks as President during the annual meeting, this increased emphasis on policy does not come at the expense of the Society's other core goals - building the geriatrics knowledge base; encouraging healthcare professionals to employ geriatrics principles when caring for older patients; and recruiting promising candidates into geriatrics. To the contrary, more effective advocacy will enhance our ability to meet these goals as well. Addressing reimbursement concerns via enhanced advocacy, for example, may help improve recruitment in to the field, since below-market rate compensation remains an obstacle to recruitment. Overall, a higher profile public advocacy role helps establish the AGS as an issues-based, rather than a special interest, organization. This boosts our influence.

Based on discussions during the annual meeting and during a two-day public policy planning session in New York City this past March, AGS' Board of Directors voted unanimously in May to focus the Society's advocacy efforts in several areas. These include:

• working toward a more comprehensive and less fragmented healthcare system;
• identifying and advocating for needed Medicare reforms, including reforms in how Medicare pays for services provided to patients;
• addressing the shortage of academic healthcare professionals specializing in geriatrics who are involved in research and training;
• pursuing research concerning, and efforts toward, improved healthcare design and
• advocating for and supporting needed practice redesign.

The Board also endorsed several strategies for effecting improvements in each of these areas. Strategies for moving from a fragmented to a more comprehensive healthcare system, for example, include educating legislators about flaws in the current system and offering possible solutions; engaging all stakeholders in efforts to redesign healthcare for older adults; and advocating for Medicare coverage for preventive screening and care coordination, among other key services.

Obviously, turning these priorities into realities won't be easy. During the March session, participants - which included both AGS and Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs (ADGAP) board members and policy leaders - ranked more than a dozen possible priorities by impact and difficulty. The top priorities, listed above, ranked high in terms of impact and difficulty.

That said, there's reason for optimism. During the March meeting, Chris Cushing, a representative of Wolf Block Public Strategies, AGS' new bipartisan Washington lobbying firm, noted that recent changes in the Capitol are likely to work to AGS' advantage. He cited, among other things, increased interest in expanded health coverage at the state and federal levels. Cushing and other Wolf Block staff can lend a hand by identifying select legislative and regulatory initiatives where AGS advocacy can make the greatest difference. Because the firm is bipartisan, it can work both sides of the aisle. This gives our policy efforts a boost. In addition, AGS' policy team -- headed by Director of Public Affairs and Strategic Alliances Director Jennifer Mercurio, Esq. - has been expanded and now includes two additional staffers. That's another boost.

To achieve our policy goals, it will be increasingly important for AGS to continue working with other organizations that share our commitment to quality care. Maintaining close ties with the American Medical Association, for example, is central to our work on behalf of adequate compensation, among other things. (See related story about AMA membership and CPT coding) It will also be increasingly important for our membership to work together toward our policy goals. Some recent changes in the structure of our committees should help. Leading up to the annual meeting, the Board of Directors approved recommendations submitted by the Task Force on Committee Restructuring that restructured AGS committees, standardized their sizes and updated their mission statements to enable our committees to play more effective and efficient roles in policy and other matters central to AGS' mission. These changes will also allow a greater number of members to participate in committee work.

I encourage you to get involved in committee and advocacy work to the greatest extent possible. Advocacy works. Consider our successes in helping convince Congress to restore funding for Title VII Geriatrics Health Professions Programs and to block the slated cut in physician fees for Medicare services this past year. Member participation in AGS' Health in Aging Advocacy Center campaigns on behalf of these initiatives was central to our efforts. So were the efforts of non-members who joined these campaigns. An additional thank-you to those members who used the Advocacy Center's "Tell a Friend" function to get others involved. When you add up the number of participants in our Advocacy Center campaigns to date, the total comes to nearly 2,800. Impressive.

With just over 6,500 members, AGS needs to enlist other advocates of quality care in our efforts. In addition to telling friends, colleagues and patients about our advocacy campaigns, I encourage you to involve your patients and their caregivers in other ways as well. Asking them to consider sharing their stories about their experiences with geriatrics care on the Foundation for Health in Aging's "Health in Aging Stories" Web site (www.healthinaging.org/caregiver/) is another way to raise awareness of the difference high quality healthcare can make in the lives of older adults. I look forward to working with you to further advance our policy agenda this year.