VA St. Louis Health Care System Recognized in National ‘Age-Friendly Health Systems’ Initiative
PRESS RELEASE
May 22, 2023
St. Louis , MO — VA St. Louis Health Care System announced today that its Geriatric Patient Aligned Care Team (GeriPACT) was recognized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement as an Age-Friendly Health System and is part of the movement to improve health care for older adults, contributing to a goal continuing to expand and grow Age-Friendly care.
As part of the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, The John A. Hartford Foundation, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States, are helping hospitals and other care settings implement a set of evidence-based interventions specifically designed to improve care for older adults.
VA St. Louis Health Care System now joins an international group of more than 2,700 health systems working to tailor care to patients’ goals and preferences and to deliver care that is consistently of the highest quality.
“Dr. Poonam Jain and her team in GeriPACT have always been at the forefront when it comes to care for our aging Veteran population here at VA St. Louis Health Care System. We look forward to both sharing our best practices and learning what’s working for others providing age-friendly care,” said Michael Crittenden, M.D., Chief of Staff. “The Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative is an important part of our overarching vision to provide every older adult with the best care possible.”
The initiative is based on a series of practices focused on addressing four essential elements of care for older patients:
• What Matters: Know and align care with each older adult's specific health outcome goals and care preferences including, but not limited to, end-of-life care, and across settings of care.
• Medication: If medication is necessary, use Age-Friendly medications that do not interfere with What Matters to the older adult, Mobility, or Mentation across settings of care.
• Mentation: Prevent, identify, treat, and manage dementia, depression, and delirium across settings of care.
• Mobility: Ensure that older adults move safely every day in order to maintain function and do What Matters.
These collaborative initiatives bring together healthcare teams like VA Louis Health Care System that are committed to sharing data and learning together. All teams strive toward reliably implementing age-friendly best practices across emergency departments, intensive care units, medical-surgical units, general wards, and primary and specialty care settings. For more information, visit www.ihi.org/agefriendly.
Mary-Dale Amison, Public Affairs Specialist
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