News/Press Releases

New York (Jan. 31, 2017)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) opposes discrimination against healthcare professionals or older people based on race, color, religion, gender (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), disability, age, or national origin. We believe that such discriminatory practices can have a negative impact on public health, especially the health of older Americans and vulnerable older people.

We are particularly concerned about the impact on the healthcare workforce of the recent Executive Order (EO), "Protection of the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States," issued by the President of the United States on January 27, 2017. The EO imposes a 90-day suspension on visas and other immigration benefits for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen attempting to travel to the United States.

The AGS values the significant contributions of health professionals from diverse backgrounds to the care of older people. For almost two decades, we have focused on helping health professionals better understand how to care for the diverse population of older adults. In addition, our international colleagues have advanced our understanding of how to care for older adults through contributions to our journals, meetings, and publications.

New York (Jan. 24, 2017)— With $1.4 million in renewed support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) will launch a new national program that positions geriatricians and geriatrics-trained clinicians as co-managers with orthopedic surgeons to improve care and health outcomes, while lowering costs, for older adults with hip fractures.

Geriatrics-orthopedics co-management incorporates a geriatrics approach to care as soon as possible after an older person enters the hospital for a hip fracture, helping to identify and reduce the risk for harmful events ranging from falls and delirium to infections. The model has been shown to reduce length of stay, re-admissions, and most complications, and to increase an older person’s chances of going home directly from the hospital, often resulting in improved function and independence.

Hip fractures hospitalize more than 260,000 older adults annually, and could hospitalize 500,000 older adults each year by 2040. They are the third most costly diagnosis in the U.S., totaling more than $18 billion in 2012.

On behalf of older adults, caregivers, and health professionals, AGS reiterates its commitment to work collaboratively to strengthen clinical care and nurture workforce equipped to care for us all as we age.

New York (Jan. 12, 2017)—In letters to President-elect Donald Trump and Congress, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) has reinforced the importance of collaborating to support older Americans through critical programs and policies.

“In our letters, we focused on programs that are critical to the clinical care of older Americans and their families, and to ensuring that we have a workforce with the skills and competence to care for us all as we age,” notes Nancy E. Lundebjerg, MPA, Chief Executive Officer of the AGS. “We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress on public policy solutions that will achieve our vision for a future when every older American receives high‐quality, person‐centered care.”

As outlined by the AGS, that vision for the future involves federal and state policies that continue to:

Experts call for “national effort” supporting older adults who are already or might soon be “unbefriended”—a term for those who lack designated decision-makers and are no longer able to make medical decisions on their own.

New York (Nov. 22, 2016)—Experts at the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today unveiled new guidance on care and decision-making for a unique and growing group of older adults: the “unbefriended.” Proposed clinical practice and public policy changes would support some of society’s most vulnerable individuals while also helping protect more of us from becoming unbefriended as we age.

The “unbefriended” lack the capacity to provide informed consent to medical treatment, often due to declines in physical and/or mental well-being. But these individuals face added challenges because they have no written outline of their care preferences and also have no identified “surrogate,” such as a family member or friend, to assist in medical decision-making when needed. Baby boomers are at particular risk for becoming unbefriended, since more than 10 million boomers live alone and as many as 20 percent have no children.

New York (Nov. 4, 2016)—This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Final 2017 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule showing their continued support for reimbursing services provided to Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.  

As a result of ongoing advocacy from the AGS and our fellow stakeholders, these proposals, which will take effect in 2017, recognize much of the cognitive work that geriatrics healthcare professionals, primary care providers, and other cognitive specialists currently and regularly provide—until now without reimbursement. 

Starting Jan. 1, 2017, CMS will recognize the following services for Medicare beneficiaries: