Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize: Embedding Age-Friendly Care as the Standard for Older Adults

 In Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize: Embedding Age-Friendly Care as the Health System Standard for All Older Adults, Anna K. Mirk, MD, and Camille P. Vaughan, MD, MS, highlight the importance of making age-friendly care not a specialty add-on, but the default approach across health care settings. 

Drawing on their work with the VA Atlanta and Birmingham Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) and a recent study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Mirk and Vaughan emphasize that age-friendly care focuses on what matters most to older adults. This approach prioritizes aligned decision-making, minimizes harm from medications and procedures, supports mobility and function, and promotes cognitive and emotional well-being. 

Rather than limiting age-friendly principles to geriatric clinics alone, Mirk and Vaughan advocate for embedding these practices throughout entire health systems. When clinicians, staff, and leaders adopt a shared framework for caring for older adults, care becomes safer, more coordinated, and more responsive to individual goals—regardless of where a patient enters the system. 

The impact of this approach is felt most clearly by those receiving care. “As I’ve gotten older, it means a lot to have my doctors really listen to what matters to me and help me stay active and independent,” said Army Veteran Joseph McGee. “That kind of care makes me feel respected and confident in the treatment I’m getting.” 

For Veterans and all older adults, this shift represents more than a quality improvement initiative; it is a commitment to dignity, respect, and whole-person care. As a healthcare system, by keeping our eyes on the prize of reliable, age-friendly care everywhere, we can better support healthy aging and improve outcomes for older Veterans now and in the future.