Starting in 2025, a new CMS measure will require public reporting on a hospital's capability to provide age-appropriate care for older adults, the agency announced Aug. 1.
The measure is included as part of its FY2025 Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems final rule.
Hospitals that participate in Medicare's Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program must begin to report on how they meet each element across five areas, the John A. Hartford Foundation explained via a news release shared with Becker's:
- Elicit patient healthcare goals.
- Responsibly manage medications.
- Implement frailty screening and intervention, for cognition and mobility as well.
- Assess social vulnerabilities including isolation, caregiver stress, and elder abuse.
- Designate specific leaders to oversee equitable delivery of care for older adults.
Hospitals that fail to adhere to these age-friendly care standards will face reductions in CMS funding.
"With this essential new measure of quality in the Medicare program, hospital leadership will now publicly report on how well they address the most critical factors affecting the health outcomes of older adults, including their medications, mentation and mobility in the context of social vulnerability," Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, president of the John A. Hartford Foundation, said in an Aug. 2 news release. "The great news is that we philanthropically support programs that can help every hospital say 'yes' when they are asked if they deliver age-friendly care."
The foundation supported development of the standards of care for ER and surgical care through the Geriatric Surgery Verification and Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation programs developed by the American College of Surgeons and American College of Emergency Physicians, which hospitals are encouraged to leverage as resources.