From 4Ms to 5 domains: ensuring new CMS Age-Friendly hospital measure improves care for older adults

Abstract

In 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) added a novel Age-Friendly Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Measure, composed of 10 attestation statements in 5 domains. The measure is designed to improve care for older adults through promoting care processes and structural capabilities drawn from evidence-based standards included in the 4Ms Framework (What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility) and operationalized in 3 programs: Geriatric Surgery Verification, Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Age-Friendly Health System recognition. We highlight synergies and gaps between these programs and the CMS Age-Friendly IQR measure to guide hospital efforts as they prepare for their first attestation in 2026. In addition, we make recommendations to CMS to improve measure validity through better specifications that ensure meaningful impact on care for older adults and to reduce associated reporting burden. Notably, there is little overlap in the outcome measures incorporated into each program. Attending to these considerations is critical to maximize the potential of this new national quality measure to address persistent shortcomings in evidence-based care for older adults.