Age Friendly Health Systems: Pivoting from Breadth to Depth

Abstract

The Age-Friendly Health Systems movement has demonstrated remarkable reach, with thousands of health systems now recognized as Age-Friendly. We have served as co-Editors of this Special Issue, which comes at a pivotal time in the Age-Friendly Health System movement. Published in this Special Issue are articles that meaningfully move the field forward by: (1) describing implementation and effects of Age-Friendly adoption across diverse settings of care; (2) contending with the challenge of consistent measurement of the 4Ms of Age-Friendly Care; (3) rigorously evaluating how best to implement and evaluate Age-Friendly care processes; and (4) exploring how policy levers align with Age-Friendly principles. These articles also reveal that while the Age-Friendly Movement has achieved tremendous breadth, the movement must pivot to achieve depth of clinical practice to ensure all older adults receive Age-Friendly care, and depth of research rigor to demonstrate impact and promote sustainability. To make this transition, novel tools are needed to make Age-Friendly care delivery integrated into workflows and the standard of care for older adults. In addition, alignment between payment and policy levers and Age-Friendly implementation must be expanded—including investing in higher levels of recognition that recognize depth of practice, and investment in Age-Friendly Learning Health Systems to encourage both depth of clinical practice and research rigor.