Week In Review

As you may have seen, AGS has started to revamp our advocacy campaigns to encourage calls rather than blanket email messages. Why, you ask? Calls are tracked and elected officials and their senior staff get a daily report of the most called about topics in each of their offices (district and DC), including the number of people calling and what they are saying. Although it may not feel like it sometimes, elected officials care about what their constituents have to say and the more of us call about specific topics related to the care of older adults, the more powerful we are. This week, we are highlighting the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) and Geriatrics Academic Career Award (GACA) Program, the only federal programs designed to address the geriatrics workforce gap across disciplines. We hope you will join us in this urgent advocacy alert to call your members of Congress about the proposed elimination of the Title VII geriatrics health professions programs in the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 proposed budget. Visit our Health in Aging Advocacy Center’s GWEP & GACA focused call alert, which will walk you through making calls – from finding your members of Congress to the phone numbers you should call to sample talking points.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) identified a fraud scheme targeting Medicare providers and suppliers where scammers are impersonating CMS and sending phishing requests for medical records or payment of alleged Medicare debts, often via fax or email, falsely claiming to be part of a Medicare audit or debt collection efforts. CMS generally does not initiate audits via fax or email unless a provider requests it, and Medicare overpayment collections are handled through an established process through the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs). If you receive a suspicious request, do not respond and if think you received a fraudulent or questionable request, work with your Medical Review Contractor to confirm if an audit request is real or your MAC for overpayment collections.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has also identified fraud schemes where scammers are impersonating DEA and notifying both registrants and non-registrants that they are under investigation, phishing for personal information. DEA personnel will never contact registrants or members of the public to demand money or any other form of payment, will never request personal or sensitive information, and will only notify people of a legitimate investigation or legal action in person or by official letter. If you are contacted by someone claiming to work for DEA and stating you are under investigation, report the incident to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center and consider reporting the incident to the Federal Trade Commission – reporting these scams will help authorities find, arrest, and stop the criminals. 

Learn how to protect against identity theft here.

This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a label update for Eli Lilly’s Kisunla (donanemab-azbt) for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease with confirmed amyloid pathology. The new recommended regimen includes a modified, more gradual titration schedule—shifting a single vial from the first dose to the third dose, delivering the same amount by week 24—that was shown to lower the incidence of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities with edema/effusion (ARIA-E) in TRAILBLAZZER-ALZ 6. The updated label can be found here.

AGS is pleased to share with our members the International Geriatric Fracture Society (IGFS) and Fragility Fracture Network USA (FFN USA) United States fracture care coordination survey.

IGFS/FFN USA invites you to take part in this survey (which should take up to 12-15 minutes to complete) designed to better understand current US practices related to in-patient orthogeriatric/geriatric co-care fracture prevention programs and out-patient post-fracture care/Fracture Liaison Service programs.  

IGFS/FFN USA aims to gather insights regarding real-world practice and will share the results of this survey with all participants. Please complete the survey no later than Friday, August 9 using the following link/QR code: http://bit.ly/3FO7MuM

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• the National Institute on Aging participates in a broad range of funding opportunities, research and development (R&D) programs, and technical assistance that address innovations in healthy aging as well as Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD).
   

  The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) will release its next Broad Pragmatic Studies funding opportunity on August 12, 2025, to support patient-centered research comparing effective interventions. Special focus areas include menopausal symptoms, maternal sleep health, and Alzheimer’s-related mental health.

The MyAGSOnline Events Calendar is a valuable resource to discover and register for upcoming events, webinars, and other opportunities. Some upcoming opportunities we'd like to highlight include:

• Geriatric Oncology: Cognition and Communication 2025 will be taking place on September 18th and 19th. This complimentary two-day virtual workshop is designed to address the nuanced communication challenges facing clinicians caring for older adults with cancer.

• The Hospital at Home Users Group 2025 Annual Meeting, Leveling Up: Investing in Hospital at Home and the Future of Healthcare, will take place on October 16th. Programming includes an up-to-the-minute policy update, a provocative keynote, networking, presentations of cutting-edge research, awards showcasing the best of the HaH community, and more.