Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System Selected Nationally as Top Age Friendly Health System

This first-of-its-kind Collaborative, led by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), has selected 30 US health systems who will accelerate and spread adoption of evidence-based, high-quality care for older adults across all of their sites and care settings. The Collaborative is the latest endeavor of the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, which promotes four evidence-based elements of high-quality care known as the 4Ms: What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility. 

The Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System earned the initiative’s Committed to Care Excellence designation in 2024 after demonstrating reliable practice of the 4Ms. Now, during the 18-month Collaborative, the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System will build on its progress and test changes to ensure that the 4Ms are provided equitably as a standard practice as older adults receive care across its entire system. All participating teams in the Collaborative will learn from each other and expert faculty and be among the first health systems to achieve an ambitious new IHI recognition for system-wide spread of age-friendly care. 

“The Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System is committed to staying on the leading edge of patient care, always looking for proven ways to deliver safe, equitable, and reliable care to all of our patients,” said Scott Isaacks, Director and CEO of the Ralph H. Johnson VA Health Care System. “The Age-Friendly Systems-Wide Spread Collaborative advances this commitment and will give us the tools we need to provide the highest standard of care to every older adult at every care interaction.”