Week In Review

The deadline to apply for the AGS/ADGAP AIRE Medicine-Geriatrics Integrated Residency and Fellowship (Combined Med-Geri Pathway) is today: Fri., Nov. 17, 2023. There is an additional opportunity to apply by Fri., Jan. 19, 2024. Your institution will only need to apply once for either the November 2023 deadline or January 2024 deadline.

This application cycle is for trainees starting in July 2025. The Combined Med-Geri Pathway provides an alternative pathway for training geriatricians by integrating the clinical experiences required in a geriatrics fellowship across the internal medicine or family medicine residency and meeting geriatric competencies in an innovative four-year (48 month) program. If your program intends to apply, please email Jen Cross at jcross@americangeriatrics.org to request an application form.

The Combined Med-Geri Pathway is overseen by a Med-Geri Leadership Team, chaired by Drs. Angela Beckert and Ed Duthie from the Medical College of Wisconsin. The leadership team is available to answer questions and help with the application process. If you have any questions or would like to be connected to a member of the leadership team, please contact Jen Cross at jcross@americangeriatrics.org.

This week, the AGS submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to its proposal to address discrimination on the basis of disability in health and human service programs or activities. Our primary concern with this rule is that it could cause unintentional harm for anyone who is living with a disability and a concurrent medical condition for which treatment is available but where that treatment may not align with a person’s wishes, does not reflect consideration of prognosis, have greater risks than benefits, and potentially cause more harm than good. In general, we believe it is crucial that therapy or treatment options are discussed and offered in line with what matters most to the patient and supports people making shared decisions with their clinicians.

This week, AGS submitted comments on the third draft of the Revised Criteria for Diagnosis and Staging of Alzheimer’s Disease: Alzheimer’s Association Workgroup, an update of the 2018 NIA-AA Revised Clinical Guidelines for Alzheimer’s. Among other items, we recommended that the Alzheimer’s Association (AA) Workgroup carefully reconsider whether the available evidence warrants moving from a research framework to the proposed use of the revised criteria to inform clinical care, including the proposed shift to use biomarkers to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Given that practitioners, patients, and society have not been sufficiently prepared for a shift in AD diagnosis, and there is no current evidence to support use of the revised criteria in routine clinical care, AGS remains concerned that this proposed expansion will place many older and multimorbid people at risk of overdiagnosis, which in turn could lead to high potential of harm and initiation of treatments with as yet unproven clinical benefit, particularly in an asymptomatic population. Our comment letter submitted earlier this year on the initial draft of the revised criteria can be found here. 

On November 15th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Disclosures of Ownership and Additional Disclosable Parties Information for Skilled Nursing Facilities and Nursing Facilities final rule. In the rule, CMS 1) defines private equity and real estate investment trusts to set the stage for identifying whether a nursing home belongs to one of these types of owners, 2) requires disclosure of entities that exercise financial control over the facility, and 3) requires nursing homes to disclose additional information regarding their owners, operators, and management. Last year, AGS supported accountability reform and transparency in nursing homes in a joint organizational letter.  As a part of the Administration’s actions to build on the Executive Order on Protecting Seniors by Improving Safety and Quality of Care in the Nation’s Nursing Homes, in addition to this final rule, CMS issued a proposed a rule to establish national minimum staffing standards for nursing homes. Comments submitted by AGS on the staffing standards proposed rule can be found here. 

Learn more in the following documents from CMS on the nursing home ownership disclosure final rule: 

• Final Rule
• CMS Press Release
• Fact Sheet
• ASPE report on nursing home ownership and quality trends

In early November, CMS finalized its proposal to maintain the additional payment for in-home administration of the COVID-19 vaccine beyond the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and to extend the payment for in-home administration of three additional preventive vaccines – the pneumococcal, influenza, and hepatitis B vaccines. The Calendar Year 2024 national in-home additional payment for Part B preventive vaccine administration is $38.55, which is geographically adjusted. Some of our most vulnerable patients are best able to receive care in the home setting and we applaud CMS for providing additional support to better enable practitioners to furnish such care. We believe this change will improve utilization of preventive vaccines which can help beneficiaries avoid serious illness.

• Podcast Episode on Updated COVID-19 Vaccination Guidelines: Listen in as Drs. Sharon Brangman and Ken Schmader discuss the recent updates and recommendations for the COVID-19 vaccine.
• New Pt Education Resource: Ask The Expert: Shingles Vaccine: Dr. Ken Schmader answers frequently asked questions about the shingles (herpes zoster) vaccine.
• AGS Vaccine Initiative Team Webinars On Demand

Visit the AGS Older Adults Vaccine Initiative website at vaccines.agscocare.org for the full suite of AGS public and professional resources on vaccinations for older adults.

The Tideswell Emerging Leaders in Aging (ELIA) Special Interest Group is excited to host a webinar for potential applicants who are interested in applying to the 2024-2025 cohort of the Tideswell AGS Emerging Leaders in Aging Program. The webinar will be held on December 18 at 3-4pm ET. Click here to register.

The webinar will feature past scholars from the pillars of research, education, and clinical, who will discuss:

• The benefits of the Tideswell program
• What makes a successful application

In addition, applicants will be able to ask questions about the program and their application. Join us to learn more about becoming a Tideswell Scholar!

Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving, and it is coming up soon. We ask that you consider supporting the Health in Aging Foundation – no gift is too small, and every donation helps us to advance our mission. Please consider a donation as a part of your own end-of-year charitable gift planning. Donations can be made here.

Volunteer to be an Abstract Reviewer by November 29th

To become an Abstract Reviewer, you must meet the criteria listed below, submit a biosketch (NIH- style, 4 pages maximum) and complete the short application form here to identify your areas of expertise and the abstract submission category you wish to review.

Abstract Reviewer Criteria:  

• must have first-authored two or more peer-reviewed original manuscripts
• must have advanced degree training (MD, PhD, MPH, PharmD, MS, etc.) or equivalent non-clinical health care degree

If you are accepted as an abstract reviewer, you will be asked to review approximately 40 abstracts in the category(s) you selected on the application. The review process will begin December 1, 2023, and all reviews must be completed by January 5, 2024.  We hope that you are willing to give your time and expertise to work with us on this very important part of our meeting. If you have any questions, please contact Denise McAlpin at dmcalpin@americangeriatrics.org.

Submit An Abstract By Dec. 1 at 11:59PM ET

You are invited to submit an abstract of original research for presentation as a paper or poster at the 2024 AGS Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting. Abstracts are solicited in the following categories:

• Case Series & Case Studies
• Clinical Innovation
• Clinical Trials
• Epidemiology
• Ethics & Qualitative Research
• Geriatric Bioscience
• Geriatric Education
• Geriatric Medicine in Other Specialties  
• Geriatric Syndromes
• Health Services & Policy Research
• Neurologic & Behavioral Science
• Quality Measurement & Quality Improvement

To submit an abstract, visit the AGS abstract submission site: https://ags2024.abstractcentral.com. Hard copy submissions will not be accepted. SUBMIT TODAY!

Nominations for #AGS24 Awards Open Until Dec. 1 at 11:59PM ET

The AGS is seeking nominations for national awards that recognize individuals whose outstanding work in geriatric education, research, and clinical practice contributes to the delivery of high-quality healthcare for older people. Click here for more information on the submission and nomination process. 

Award applications are available on MyAGSOnline. Please note, you must be signed into your AGS account in order to submit an application. For login or password assistance, please contact membership@americangeriatrics.org.

Take 20% off at GeriatricsCareOnline.org through Mon. 12/4 during our Thanksgiving Sale. GeriatricsCareOnline.org is home to AGS publications, resources and tools. Access to high-quality, trustworthy information for all healthcare professionals is just a click away — and now at a discounted price! Offer is applied automatically in your shopping cart when you order online.

Member favorites include the Geriatrics Review Syllabus, Geriatric Nursing Review Syllabus, Geriatrics At Your Fingertips^® and AGS Beers Criteria^® pocketcards.

Keep your an eye on your inbox next week for the publication of our new educational piece focused on Lecanemab: What Clinicians Need to Know. We will send out a notification to AGS members once this new resource is available at GeriatricsCareOnline.org.

The AGS  Opportunities for Investigators resource serves as a central location for geriatrics and aging-related opportunities such as grant funding, presentation or publication submissions, travel stipends for scholarly meetings, networking events, comment periods, and in-person or virtual meetings and webinars. Some upcoming opportunities we'd like to highlight include:

• The AGING Initiative will select up to 14 scholars for the Multiple Chronic Conditions Scholars Program. There will be an informational webinar on November 20, 2023 at 4:00pm ET and applications are due January 8, 2024.
• The NIA has announced a funding opportunity to support the bundling of Phase 1 through Phase 2a clinical trials to help streamline and accelerate the evaluation of promising novel Alzheimer’s and related dementias drug candidates. The first application due date is February. 21, 2024.

The  MyAGSOnline Events Calendar is a valuable resource to discover and register for upcoming events, webinars, and other opportunities. We'd like to highlight the following upcoming event: 

• Learn about the work of Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Programs (GWEP) and get ideas for partnering with a local GWEP near you by attending this webinar on December 7, 2023 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM (CT).
• Join the Hospital at Home Users Group for this webinar that will examine three systems' experience creating SNF/Rehab@Home programs as adjuncts to their Hospital at Home offerings on December 5, 2023 from 04:00 PM to 05:00 PM (ET).

Have an opportunity or event you'd like to see listed? Email the details to Jennifer Fisher at jfisher@americangeriatrics.org