Week In Review

We're thrilled to see AGS President-Elect Alison Moore, MD, MPH, spotlighted in a recent UC San Diego Health feature celebrating her new leadership role. The article highlights Dr. Moore's commitment to improving care for older adults throughout her career—as well as her memorable ceremonial first pitch at a San Diego Padres game on Doctors' Day!

We’re so proud to see her honored and can’t wait to support her work as she steps into this vital leadership role. Read the article here.

This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved massive cuts to the Medicaid program that would impact older adults, people with disabilities, children, and working families from accessing basic health care. A preliminary estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the legislation would increase the number of people without health insurance by at least 13.7 million in 2034. At least 7.7 million of those individuals would lose coverage as a result of the Medicaid provisions. The legislation also includes burdensome work requirements that will require certain populations to demonstrate they are working before they can access any care through Medicaid. Of concern is that the Medicaid work requirements only exempt individuals who are caring for a child, not adult caregivers. There is still time to speak up and contact your members of Congress about cuts to the Medicaid program. As of this writing, the full House must still vote on these policies, and if approved, the Senate would then take it up. There are no guarantees and margins continue to be tight, so your voice and input are important especially now. Ultimately, both chambers must pass identical text to pass the bill into law.

It’s important for all of us to educate Congress and make our voices heard about issues that are important to geriatrics health professionals and the older adults we serve. We encourage you to take advantage of the AGS advocacy messaging here, which includes a sample script for calling Congress to express your concern about cuts to Medicaid among other issues and instructions for adding congressional office numbers to your contacts. TAKE ACTION NOW!  

Access our new AGS CoCare®: HELP resources to help you understand the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) new Age-Friendly Hospital Measure designed to evaluate and improve the quality of care for older adults in hospitals.

Hospitals receiving payment under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and participating in Medicare’s Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program are now required to report on their compliance with the new Age-Friendly measure, demonstrating their commitment to providing age-friendly care. Use these new free AGS tools to learn how the AGS CoCare®: HELP program can be used to support and meet these new requirements.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced revisions to the following resources: 

• Annual graduate medical education (GME) update factors (link automatically downloads zip file) – These inflation factors can be used to estimate the increase in direct GME per resident amounts between consecutive 12-month cost reporting periods which will be updated quarterly. Learn more on the direct GME webpage.  
   
• Medicare Preventive Services
  • Colorectal cancer screening – Updated coding file for ICD-10 codes and added CPT codes 0464U (effective October 3, 2024, for quantitative real-time target and signal amplification, methylated DNA markers) and 0537U (effective April 1, 2025, for analysis of cell-free DNA for epigenomic patterns, next-generation sequencing, differentially methylated regions, plasma).
  • Ultrasound abdominal aortic aneurysm screening – Added ICD-10 codes and clarified coverage requirements.
• Medicare Provider Compliance Tips for Walkers – Updated improper payment rate for the 2023 reporting period of 24.8 percent with a projected improper payment amount of $8.7 million as reflected in the 2023 Medicare Fee-for-Service Supplemental Improper Payment Data. Review the compliance tip for information on billing codes, denial reasons and how to prevent them, and documentation requirements.

#AGS25 Resources and Tips
In Case You Missed It (#ICYMI): Here's everything you need to know about accessing resources related to #AGS25:

• Meeting.AmericanGeriatrics.org is still your online hub for all things meeting-related. Everything listed in this story can be found on the meeting website in one central location!
• Attendees will be able to access #AGS25 on demand through August 31, 2025.
• Get the #AGS25 paper and poster abstract supplement from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society here.
• Remember to submit your CME/CE evaluations by August 31, 2025.
• The deadline to apply for Pharmacy applications for CE is June 9, 2025. You must apply for CE and evaluate sessions on the CE site and answer the ACPE questions in this survey.
• Missed the meeting? You can still register today for access to the on-demand educational sessions through the #AGS25 Annual Meeting Platform.

#AGS25 Awardees

At last week’s 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting, the American Geriatrics Society proudly recognized the outstanding achievements of our 2025 award recipients. Each year, AGS honors individuals who have made exceptional contributions to geriatrics through research, clinical care, education, and advocacy.

This year’s honorees represent a diverse group of professionals whose work spans disciplines but shares a common goal: improving care for older adults across diverse settings and communities. These honorees join a long tradition of AGS awardees who have championed excellence in aging care throughout the Society’s history. Learn more about each of the 2025 AGS awards and the inspiring individuals who received them here.

#AGS25 Presidential Poster Award Winners

Congratulations to the following Presidential Poster Winners in the following categories:

Case Series & Case Studies: Vimmi Panchal, MD 
Clinical Innovation: Brylee Lavoie 
Clinical Trials: Victoria Winslow 
Epidemiology: Jenny Yu Qing Huang, MD 
Ethics & Qualitative Research: David Amorim 
Geriatric Bioscience: Ishani Deliwala 
Geriatric Education: Anagha Kumar 
Geriatric Medicine in Other Specialties: Abigail Robert  
Geriatric Syndromes: Rutvi Chahal, MBBS 
Health Services & Policy Research: Jaaram Cha 
Neurologic & Behavioral Science: Lilla Brody 
Quality Measurement and Quality Improvement: Dalia Amrom, MD

The Annual Scientific Meeting Program Committee is pleased to announce the 2026 Annual Meeting Call for Program Proposals. Proposal submissions will be accepted on our online submission site: https://ags2026.abstractcentral.com. All proposals must be submitted online - hard copy proposal submission will not be accepted. The proposal submission deadline is June 30, 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

• The Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) Research Network is accepting new members. Members of the research network will be given opportunities to present and receive feedback on ideas for AFHS research or measurement work, share tools and resources such as funding opportunities, learn about emergent topics, and identify potential collaborators, mentors, and career development opportunities.
• The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is welcoming applications through June 4th, 2025 for a select number of scholarships to caregivers, patients with lived experience, and members of community-based organizations to attend the 2025 PCORI Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., happening Oct. 21-22, 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: