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11/7/2025
As we did last week, we have focused our advocacy action on the urgent need to restore the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, an essential program that provides food and nutrition benefits to low-income families, including older adults. On November 1st, SNAP ran out of federal funding forcing food banks, nonprofit organizations, and communities to scramble to try to fill the gap. Urge Congress and the Administration to take swift action now and ensure food assistance is available for the 1 in 8 households who rely on these benefits.
Click Here to Make Your Calls Now! For more ideas on how to support those in your community who will be hardest hit by the cessation of SNAP benefits, visit From the Science Classroom by Science Whiz Liz.
On October 31st, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule. CMS finalized several proposals that AGS advocated for, such as allowing for G2211, the visit complexity add-on code, to be billed with the home and residence evaluation and management (E/M) visit codes and removing frequency limitations on Medicare telehealth subsequent care services in inpatient and nursing facility settings. AGS staff and consultants are currently reviewing the rule and will be providing a more detailed summary in the coming weeks. In the meantime, CMS has shared links to the full text of the final rule, their press release, and a fact sheet.
As the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues immigration enforcement operations across the country and in the event there are increased ICE activities targeting communities after this week’s elections, we wanted to remind members about this article from Corp! Magazine that highlights advice for employers on ways to set up protocols that would be helpful to hospitals and other healthcare settings. A conversation with legal expert, Julianne Cassin Sharp, who leads the Immigration Practice Team at a Detroit-based law firm, the article is focused on immigration and ICE policies. For additional information, check out this resource from the National Immigration Law Center, “Health Care Providers and Immigration Enforcement: Know Your Rights, Know Your Patients’ Rights.”
Completing the 2025 AGS/ADGAP Benchmarking Survey only takes 10-15 minutes and gives AGS and ADGAP geriatrician members exclusive and instant access to the real-world, aggregated, and anonymous dataset collected via the Physician Value Exchange: Career & Specialty Data Platform on compensation, professional functions, and other geriatrics-specific data.
If you haven’t accessed your AGS membership benefit to explore the Career & Specialty Data Platform yet, log in here as an existing user or register here if you are a new user to complete the survey.
Remember, the more members complete the survey, the richer and more meaningful the data to empower your personal and professional growth and help define the value of geriatricians. Visit the Geriatrics Compensation, Productivity Benchmarking Survey webpage for additional information with resources to help you prepare and complete the survey should you need it or email Anna Kim (akim@americangeriatrics.org).
Check out this AGS Member Forum post for a sneak peek of the data from this year’s survey.
Effective January 1, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the advanced primary care management (APCM) services codes and valuation, which recognizes elements that we consider to be vital components of primary care, including team-based care and an ongoing, longitudinal relationship with patients. APCM services can be billed once per patient per calendar month as a payment bundle using an APCM HCPCS code (G0556-G0558) when you meet the billing requirements, which includes a measure and report performance element for assessment of primary care quality, total cost of care, and meaningful use of Certified EHR Technology (CEHRT). You can either report the Value in Primary Care Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Value Pathway (MVP) or participate in a Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organization (ACO); Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH) ACO; Making Care Primary model; or Primary Care First model. Click here for more information about APCM services.
In order to report the Value in Primary Care MVP for the 2025 performance year, you must register in advance by 8:00 pm ET on Monday, December 1, 2025. You can register on the Quality Payment Program (QPP) website by signing in with your Health Care Quality Information System (HCQIS) Access Roles and Profile (HARP) account and navigating to the registration portal on the Account Home page.
Review the following links for MVP registration:
- MVP Registration webpage for details on what to know before you register
- 2025 MVP Registration Guide for detailed steps and screenshots on the registration process
- Frequently Asked Questions begin on page 33 in the Registration Guide
- Register on the QPP website
Learn more here if you do not have a HARP account
The Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines 2.0 working group has recently published GRADE-adherent guidelines for evaluation of delirium in emergency medicine settings (available at http://pmid.us/41146403). The systematic reviews underlying each PICO question of the delirium guidelines can be found at Delirium Systematic Review – GEAR Network.
To learn more about the process of building GRADE-adherent clinical practice guidelines check out how this recent synthesis from the team that is leading the updating of the GED Guideline at A Model for Developing Subspecialty Clinical Practice Guidelines: The Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines 2.0 - PubMed. Stay tuned for GED Guidelines 2.0 focusing on ED care for persons living with dementia, medication safety, frailty, falls, elder abuse, and palliative care.
The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP have released the Caregiving in the US 2025 State Data Profiles and Caregiving in the US 2025: Caring Across States. These new resources include a comprehensive state-by-state analysis documenting the challenges family caregivers face nationwide. The summary report highlights key insights and emerging trends that reveal how geography shapes the family caregiving experience across different states. Find out more in this press release and access the state data profiles here. To help amplify the findings and key messaging in these resources, check out the Caregiving in the US 2025 Toolkit here.
| Special Interest Group | Date & Time | Link to Join |
Group Medical Visits for Older Adults
| Thursday, November 13th 4:30-5:30pm ET / 1:30-2:30pm PT | https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84472582352 |
Applications are now being accepted for the 2026 – 2027 Emerging Leaders in Aging (ELIA) Program, a collaboration between AGS and Tideswell at University of California, San Francisco. This program is now inviting applications for its twelfth cohort of leadership scholars. Applications are due Monday, February 2, 2026 at 5PM Pacific Standard Time.
Who Should Apply: The program benefits health care professionals, generally 4-10 years out from training, who are embarking on a relatively new leadership endeavor with challenges that involve leading others and leading change to improve the health and lives of older adults. Past scholars are interprofessional, and lead clinical, research, or educational programs.
Special thanks to the Tideswell community of supporters who have made the 2026-2027 cohort possible. To add your support or for questions, please e-mail us at Leadership@TideswellUCSF.org.
- AGS 2026 awards are now accepting nominations. The AGS is seeking nominations for 17 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. Learn about all the awards on the AGS awards page and nominate yourself or a colleague by December 2nd.
- Submit an abstract of original research for presentation as a paper or poster at the 2026 Virtual AGS Annual Scientific Meeting. The abstract submission deadline is December 2, 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern time. To submit an abstract, visit the AGS abstract submission site: https://ags2026.abstractcentral.com.
- Shape the the 2026 Virtual Annual Meeting by volunteering to review research abstracts in your area of expertise! To become an Abstract Reviewer, you must meet the reviewer criteria, submit a biosketch (NIH- style, 5 pages maximum) and complete the short application form at this link to identify your areas of expertise and the abstract submission category you wish to review. The deadline to apply as an abstract reviewer for the AGS 2026 Virtual Annual Meeting is November 28th.
- NIDUS will be hosting their webinar, Diversifying Clinical Research Funding, on November 12th. The goal of this NIDUS seminar is to explore clinical research funding options through foundations, institutions/research networks, PCORI and industry.
- Join Geri-a-FLOAT for their latest webinar, Age Friendly Health Systems & CMS, on Friday, November 21st at 12pm ET / 9am PT to explore practical strategies for implementing the 4Ms Framework—What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility—across diverse care settings. View all upcoming Geri-a-FLOAT webinars here.
Have an opportunity or event you'd like to see listed? Email the details to Jennifer Fisher at jfisher@americangeriatrics.org