Week In Review

AGS recently published its updated position statement on making medical treatment decisions for unrepresented older adults in JAGS.

This position statement, developed by the AGS Ethics Committee, provides an update to the 2017 statement and offers new guidance on care and decision-making for unrepresented older adults. Making medical decisions on behalf of unrepresented older adults is exceptionally challenging and, given demographic trends, is likely to become increasingly common in the years ahead. Find it here.

This recorded webinar, available for free, introduces the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Risk Less. Do More. public education campaign, as well as discusses vaccine hesitancy and strategies to combat it. Kelly Langford, the Online Communications Director for HHS & Paid Media Director for the 2024-2025 Public Education Campaign on Pan-Respiratory Viruses speaks about the HHS Risk Less. Do More. campaign and reviews the many campaign materials that are available to health care providers to use. Dr. Jorie Butler, Associate Professor of the University of Utah, presents on vaccine hesitancy. Check it out here.

Get ready to join us for the American Geriatrics Society's 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting (#AGS25), happening May 8-10 in Chicago, Il. Registration opens next week, so stay tuned to secure your spot for this can't-miss event. 

Visit meeting.americangeriatrics.org for more details and mark your calendar—registration opens soon!

AGS/ADGAP is accepting program applications for the AIRE Medicine-Geriatrics Integrated Residency and Fellowship (Combined Med-Geri Pathway). Applications are due Fri., Jan. 17, 2025. This application cycle is for trainees starting in July 2026. 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 Sicherman at jcross@americangeriatrics.org to request the application materials.

As the 2025 AGS Annual Scientific Meeting approaches this spring, now is great time to get involved in AGS Resident, Student, and Fellow-In-Training sections. Joining the leadership of these trainee sections is a great opportunity to take an active role in shaping upcoming initiatives, plan section meetings, gain leadership experience, and collaborate with peers across the field.

If you’re interested in joining, please contact Ashley Evans at aevans@americangeriatrics.org with your CV and a couple sentences about yourself and why you are interested in participating in section leadership. We welcome applications from motivated individuals eager to contribute ideas and make an impact.

Don't miss this chance to get involved – apply today!

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule updating payment policies and Medicare payment rates for services provided under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) in Calendar Year (CY) 2025. As part of the rule, primary care specialties (e.g., general internal medicine, family medicine, geriatric medicine) can bill for a new payment bundle for Advanced Primary Care Management (APCM) services, which reflects the essential elements of advanced primary care, including principal care management, transitional care management, and chronic care management, starting January 1, 2025. Check out the following resources for more information:

• CMS Medicare Learning Network (MLN) Article: Summary of Policies in the CY 2025 MPFS Final Rule, Telehealth Originating Site Facility Fee Payment Amount and Telehealth Services List, CT Modifier Reduction List, and Preventive Services List
• CY 2025 MPFS Final Rule and Related Links
• APCM Services Webpage
• CMS MLN Booklet: Transitional Care Management Services
• CMS MLN Booklet: Chronic Care Management Services

Applications are now being accepted for the 2025 – 2026 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 eleventh cohort of leadership scholars. Applications are due Monday, February 3, 2025 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 this possible, particularly AGS, the University of Rochester, and Tideswell alumni. To add your support or for questions, please e-mail us at Leadership@TideswellUCSF.org. 

The Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) 2025 Critical Care Congress, to be held February 23-25, 2025, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida will feature a new full-day Geriatrics Track on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, designed for those passionate about enhancing care for older adults. Clinicians will find sessions highlighting care of geriatric patients in the ICU, including tips for creating an age-friendly ICU and special considerations in older patients with traumatic injuries.

The Geriatrics Track Thought Leader Session will include the prestigious Norma J. Shoemaker Honorary Lecture by Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President of The John A. Hartford Foundation who will present on “Why the 4Ms Approach to Critical Care Improves Quality: Lessons From the Age-Friendly Health Systems Movement."  

AGS members who plan on attending can use the coupon code 50AGSCON25 for 50% off their registration. To use the coupon code:

• Register online at sccm.org/congress2025.
• Enter the coupon code at checkout to receive the discount.
• The coupon expires on February 25, 2025.

For more info on the new full day geriatrics track, click here. 

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:

• Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's Broad Pragmatic Studies grant funding is now open for for high-quality comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) projects. There will be an applicant Town Hall on December 13, 2024. 
   
• Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Insitute's Managing Pain Topical grant funding is now open for projects that address meaningful decisional dilemmas faced by patients, clinicians and members of the broader health and healthcare community when seeking and obtaining pain-related care and to improve patient-centered outcomes. Submit your letter of intent by January 14, 2025.

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: