News/Press Releases

New York (April 19, 2017)—Without a substantial increase in federal funding for geriatrics education and research we risk further decimating a workforce that is essential to training health professionals on the unique healthcare needs of older adults, say researchers reporting on the impact that Geriatrics Academic Career Awards (GACAs) have had on geriatrics academic careers, health professional training, and the care of older adults. In an article for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, interprofessional experts looked at the impact of the GACA program, which served as a vital resource for more than 200 geriatrics clinicians and educators before it was eliminated as part of a consolidation of several geriatrics training programs in 2015.

Qualitative and quantitative results from the research team’s survey of GACA recipients point not only to a growing need for geriatrics skills but also to the importance of dedicated time and financial support to develop emerging geriatrics faculty for training a U.S. healthcare workforce with the skills and knowledge to optimally care for older adults:

The American Geriatrics Society and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration roll out "Safe Driving" campaign for older adults

New York (April 4, 2017)—With support from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the American Geriatrics Society’s (AGS’s) Health in Aging Foundation today announced the start of a public information campaign focused on helping older adults and caregivers access resources for safely navigating the open road. The campaign features a toolkit providing actionable safe driving tips, advice on how to have important conversations with older adults about driving limitations, and ways to continue being mobile and independent when personal driving is no longer a safe option. 

Distributed during National Public Health Week (April 3-9) in the U.S., the toolkit’s release also coincides with World Health Day—Friday, April 7th—focusing this year on depression prevention, a significant concern for older adults who discontinue driving but are not aware of transportation alternatives for maintaining independence. The AGS’s safe driving campaign specifically provides information to these older adults and their caregivers to help them identify resources available to promote mobility, independence, and freedom to maintain physical and mental well-being. With the number of older adult drivers rapidly increasing—already up thirty-four percent in 2012 versus 1999—the need for resources to help us all practice safe driving as we age has never been greater. 

New York (March 17, 2017)—Healthcare professionals across the Atlantic and around the world need to think beyond single-disease guidelines as they look to provide high-quality, person-centered care for more and more older adults living with multiple chronic conditions, so say editors from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and the British Geriatrics Society's (BGS's) Age and Ageing in the first from a series of joint editorials launched today. The series will look for common ground in geriatrics "across the pond," beginning here with the U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on multimorbidity, the medical term for those living with several chronic health concerns.

"The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on multi-morbidity challenges physicians and health care providers to adopt an holistic approach that takes full and proper account of multimorbidity. It addresses a common flaw in all contemporary health services that frail, multi-morbid patients are often subjected to futile or even harmful investigations and treatments," note David J. Stott, MBChB, MD, FRCP, and John Young, MSc, authors of the BGS editorial and Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor, respectively, of Age and Ageing.

New York (Mar. 16, 2017)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) expressed its deep disappointment with proposed cuts to geriatrics training, healthcare research, and a range of services for older adults—all outlined by President Trump in his budget plan for 2018. 

Among several concerns, the AGS noted that the budget would eliminate $403 million from training programs that educate the doctors, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, social workers, and many other health professionals essential to our care as we age. The Trump proposal is premised on a flawed assumption that health professions and nursing training programs “lack evidence that they significantly improve the Nation’s health workforce.” 

“We are especially concerned about the potential impact of these cuts on the Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) under Titles VII and VIII,” said Nancy E. Lundebjerg, MPA, Chief Executive Officer of the AGS. “This is the only federal program aimed at improving the quality, safety, and affordability of our care by increasing the number of professionals with the skills needed to care for us as we age.” 

New York (March 9, 2017)—As an organization dedicated to the health and well-being of us all as we age, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today voiced opposition to several components of the newly released American Health Care Act—legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and legislation AGS experts believe would harm access to key health services for older adults, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.

“Policy changes that would increase costs, reduce coverage, or cut benefits put health, independence, and quality of life at risk for all of us as we age,” notes Nancy E. Lundebjerg, MPA, Chief Executive Officer of the AGS. “We are committed to working with Congress and the Trump Administration on meaningful reforms that would improve health care, for example, by reducing regulatory burdens, but we continue to oppose changes like those proposed in the American Health Care Act, which might jeopardize access to high-quality, person-centered, and affordable health coverage for all older Americans.”

New York (Jan. 31, 2017)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) opposes discrimination against healthcare professionals or older people based on race, color, religion, gender (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), disability, age, or national origin. We believe that such discriminatory practices can have a negative impact on public health, especially the health of older Americans and vulnerable older people.

We are particularly concerned about the impact on the healthcare workforce of the recent Executive Order (EO), "Protection of the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States," issued by the President of the United States on January 27, 2017. The EO imposes a 90-day suspension on visas and other immigration benefits for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen attempting to travel to the United States.

The AGS values the significant contributions of health professionals from diverse backgrounds to the care of older people. For almost two decades, we have focused on helping health professionals better understand how to care for the diverse population of older adults. In addition, our international colleagues have advanced our understanding of how to care for older adults through contributions to our journals, meetings, and publications.

New York (Jan. 24, 2017)— With $1.4 million in renewed support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) will launch a new national program that positions geriatricians and geriatrics-trained clinicians as co-managers with orthopedic surgeons to improve care and health outcomes, while lowering costs, for older adults with hip fractures.

Geriatrics-orthopedics co-management incorporates a geriatrics approach to care as soon as possible after an older person enters the hospital for a hip fracture, helping to identify and reduce the risk for harmful events ranging from falls and delirium to infections. The model has been shown to reduce length of stay, re-admissions, and most complications, and to increase an older person’s chances of going home directly from the hospital, often resulting in improved function and independence.

Hip fractures hospitalize more than 260,000 older adults annually, and could hospitalize 500,000 older adults each year by 2040. They are the third most costly diagnosis in the U.S., totaling more than $18 billion in 2012.

On behalf of older adults, caregivers, and health professionals, AGS reiterates its commitment to work collaboratively to strengthen clinical care and nurture workforce equipped to care for us all as we age.

New York (Jan. 12, 2017)—In letters to President-elect Donald Trump and Congress, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) has reinforced the importance of collaborating to support older Americans through critical programs and policies.

“In our letters, we focused on programs that are critical to the clinical care of older Americans and their families, and to ensuring that we have a workforce with the skills and competence to care for us all as we age,” notes Nancy E. Lundebjerg, MPA, Chief Executive Officer of the AGS. “We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress on public policy solutions that will achieve our vision for a future when every older American receives high‐quality, person‐centered care.”

As outlined by the AGS, that vision for the future involves federal and state policies that continue to:

Experts call for “national effort” supporting older adults who are already or might soon be “unbefriended”—a term for those who lack designated decision-makers and are no longer able to make medical decisions on their own.

New York (Nov. 22, 2016)—Experts at the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today unveiled new guidance on care and decision-making for a unique and growing group of older adults: the “unbefriended.” Proposed clinical practice and public policy changes would support some of society’s most vulnerable individuals while also helping protect more of us from becoming unbefriended as we age.

The “unbefriended” lack the capacity to provide informed consent to medical treatment, often due to declines in physical and/or mental well-being. But these individuals face added challenges because they have no written outline of their care preferences and also have no identified “surrogate,” such as a family member or friend, to assist in medical decision-making when needed. Baby boomers are at particular risk for becoming unbefriended, since more than 10 million boomers live alone and as many as 20 percent have no children.

New York (Nov. 4, 2016)—This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Final 2017 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule showing their continued support for reimbursing services provided to Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.  

As a result of ongoing advocacy from the AGS and our fellow stakeholders, these proposals, which will take effect in 2017, recognize much of the cognitive work that geriatrics healthcare professionals, primary care providers, and other cognitive specialists currently and regularly provide—until now without reimbursement. 

Starting Jan. 1, 2017, CMS will recognize the following services for Medicare beneficiaries: