AGS Board Adopts Public Policy Priorities for Coming Year Based on Discussions at Annual Meeting and Results of First Annual Public Policy Meeting

Promoting a more comprehensive, less fragmented healthcare system; advocating for needed Medicare reforms and for practice redesign; addressing the shortage of academic healthcare professionals specializing in geriatrics; and supporting research to improve healthcare design should be top public policy priorities for the American Geriatrics Society for the coming year, the Society's Board of Directors agreed during AGS' May annual scientific meeting in Seattle.

The board voted unanimously to adopt the list of priorities -- which will guide the Society's public policy efforts over the course of the year -- and a slate of strategies aimed at achieving them.

The board developed both based on discussions during the annual meeting and a two-day public policy planning session in New York City in March. The two-day March meeting, which included AGS and Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs (ADGAP) board members and leaders involved in public policy issues, was the first of what will be annual public policy planning sessions. (See related story)

"Identifying and prioritizing the Society's public policy goals - is an essential step toward increasing our emphasis on and investment in public policy advocacy," noted AGS' new president, Todd Semla, PharmD (See related story). AGS' updated strategic plan, adopted in 2006, calls for increased efforts to raise public awareness of the need for high quality healthcare for older adults and to advocate for public policy that supports such care.

"In addition to being important in their own right, these efforts will further establish the AGS as a broad, issues-based organization - the "go to" organization for information and perspectives on aging and health -- rather than a special interest organization, " added Steven Counsell, MD, chair of AGS' Public Policy Advisory Group, and moderator of the March policy session.

The top policy priorities that AGS and ADGAP policy leaders identified in March and the Board adopted in May -- and leading strategies for realizing these priorities -- include:

Advocating for and promoting a more comprehensive, less fragmented healthcare system. To this end, the Board agreed that AGS should, among other things, work to raise awareness of the problems associated with care fragmentation and address it by:

• sharing information with legislators and with members of a new Institute of Medicine (IoM) panel investigating both how to prepare the nation's healthcare workforce to meet the needs of an aging populace and which models of healthcare delivery are likely to provide the highest quality and most cost effective care for older Americans
• advocating for passage of the Geriatric Assessment and Chronic Care Coordination (GACCC) Act (see related story), and for increased preventive screening
• engaging in and influencing the design of universal healthcare proposals by approaching and building relationships with other stakeholders, including presidential candidates
• playing an increasing role in the establishment of standards and outcomes, for instance, in pay-for-performance programs

Identifying and advocating for needed Medicare reforms, including reforms in Medicare's protocols for paying for services provided to beneficiaries. Top strategies the Board endorsed to achieve this goal include:

• leveraging the IOM report, which is due out next March
• working with legislators, particularly those involved in healthcare issues, on behalf of the GACCC Act and other legislation
• developing "talking points," regarding both problems associated with Medicare and possible solutions, to share with legislators and the media
• staying involved in the development and revision of CPT codes
• working with health plans on issues such as capitation

Addressing the shortage of academic healthcare professionals specializing in geriatrics who are involved in research and training. To help recruit promising candidates into the field, and retain them, the Board agreed that AGS should, among other things,

• continue advocating for: increased funding for Title VII Geriatrics Health Professions Programs and an expanded Title VII Geriatric Academic Career Awards program; the Nurse Education, Expansion and Development Act; fully funded GRECC positions; an expanded GME cap; and a Geriatricians Loan Forgiveness Act
• ensure that testimony concerning the GACCC Act highlights how fulfilling careers in geriatrics can be

Pursuing research concerning, and efforts toward, improved healthcare design. To realize this goal, Board members endorsed several key strategies including:

• advocating for National Institutes of Health funding for research concerning healthcare design
• convening an NIA-AGS meeting on the subject
• convening a VA meeting on geriatrics research
• advocating for an FDA requirement that new drugs be tested in older populations

Promoting needed practice redesign. Strategies the Board endorsed to help bring about practice redesign included:

• advocating for funding for small business loans, initiatives to make electronic health record systems more affordable; and the development of a system of redesign support tools
• meeting with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to develop mechanisms to support practice redesign