New CMS Age Friendly Hospital Measure to Improve Care of Older Adult Patients

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released a new Age Friendly Hospital Measure based on work by the ACS and designed to improve the care and outcomes of older adult patients. This measure, which becomes effective January 1, 2025, will help hospitals provide high-quality, patient-centered care for older adults.

All hospitals participating in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program (IQR) must report on their compliance with the measure and could face significant financial penalties if they fail to do so. 

This new type of “programmatic” measure is developed principally based on the standards of the ACS Geriatric Surgery Verification (GSV) Program, launched in 2019 to meet the specific needs of older adult patients undergoing surgery. The ACS is offering a new level of the GSV program specifically tailored to address the five domains included in the measure. The five domains are:

• Eliciting Patient Healthcare Goals
• Responsible Medication Management
• Frailty Screening and Intervention
• Social Vulnerability
• Age-Friendly Care Leadership

Participating in the GSV program can help a hospital deliver high-quality care more efficiently and, in turn, lower costs. For example, delirium occurs in 25% of patients and costs a hospital about $20,000 per episode. Through GSV participation, not only can a hospital comply with the new CMS measure, but also use the strategies from the GSV program to reduce the chances of delirium, which also can lead to shorter lengths-of-stay and improved outcomes.

The ACS collaborated with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the American College of Emergency Physicians, with support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, to develop the measure.

Learn more on the ACS website.