St. John’s Riverside Hospital was one of the earliest health care organizations to join the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement and is pleased to announce that its commitment to this national movement is not only improving care for older adults in its own community but has contributed to the national movement surpassing its 2020 milestone.
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has announced that the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement has beaten its participation goal by nearly 50 percent with the help of 1,956 sites of care like St. John’s Riverside Hospital who joined the movement by the end of 2020. The Age-Friendly Health Systems movement underscores St. John’s Riverside Hospital’s active commitment to improving care for older adults.
Health care organizations who join the Age-Friendly movement adopt and demonstrate progress toward implementation of the 4Ms framework, four evidence-based practices, that lay the groundwork for optimizing care and outcomes for older adults, improving provider experience, supporting caregivers, and pursuing value-based methods of care. The 4M’s include: What Matters to older adults, their Medication, their Mentation, and their Mobility.
IHI reports that participation in the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement surged by 85 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when 1,671 care sites joined between March and December 2020, highlighting the impact of the older adult population’s size and distinct medical needs on US health care delivery. Adults 65 and older are a rapidly growing segment of the US population and health care consumers. Their numbers are expected to increase from 49 million today to 98 million by 2060[1].
“St. John’s Riverside Hospital is deeply committed to the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement because of the benefits that it can deliver to older adults, their families, and our providers,” says Peg Kern, NP, Chairperson of the St. John’s Age-Friendly Committee. “Our seniors require and deserve specialized care and this movement fits within our mission of service to our community.”
In 2020, St. John’s touched over 1,500 adult patients 65 and older by using evidence-based practices of the 4 M’s framework.
The founders and partners of Age-Friendly Health Systems recognize the far-reaching impact of improving care for older adults as a way to build greater resilience into individual health care organizations and to strengthen US health care overall.
[1] US Census Bureau
