CMS Measures Under Consideration: Public Comment Invited on Age-Friendly Hospital Measure
Submit comments by February 16 asking CMS to adopt a new Age-Friendly Hospital Measure.
The Partnership for Quality Measurement has opened another brief public comment period on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on the 2024 Hospital Measure Under Consideration Final Recommendations, which includes an Age-Friendly Hospital Measure that would help ensure age-friendly care for older adults.
On February 1, 2024, CMS released the 2024 Hospital Measure Under Consideration Final Recommendations (download here) which recommends quality measures for CMS incentive programs, including the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) program. The recommendations are open for public comment until February 16, 2024.
The Age Friendly Hospital Measure is a new type of measure, a “programmatic measure” that considers the full program of care needed for geriatric patients in the hospital. The measure encourages hospital systems to rethink how they approach care for older patients with multiple medical, psychological, and social needs at highest risk for adverse events. It also emphasizes the importance of defining patient (and caregiver) goals.
The Age-Friendly Hospital Measure (MUC-2023-196) is an updated measure that combines two measures previously reviewed by the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Measures Application Partnership (MAP) in 2022: the Geriatrics Hospital Measure (MUC-2022-112) and the Geriatrics Surgical Measure (MUC-2022-032).
The proposed measure was developed through collaboration of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). It incorporates elements of the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Age-Friendly Health Systems framework known as the 4Ms (What Matters, Medications, Mentation, Mobility), standards from the Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) program developed by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), and the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Geriatric Surgical Verification (GSV) standards.
To submit comments on the final MUC recommendation:
- Visit https://p4qm.org/prmr-final-muc-reco.
- Enter your name, organizational affiliation, and email address.
- Select “Hospital Committee” from the Care Setting dropdown menu.
- Select "Age-Friendly Hospital Measure" from the Hospital Committee Measures dropdown menu (that appears when you have the Hospital Committee option selected).
- Enter your comment in the text box or attach a file.
- Complete the math question at the bottom of the page.
- Select “Save.”
Attached for reference is the final Letter of Support that ACS and partners signed during the initial request for comments in December 2023. JAHF encourages grantees and partners to again submit comments on this measure, using language from the letter of support or this background document (download document here).
The measure was highlighted in a Health Affairs Forefront article by JAHF's Rani Snyder and Terry Fulmer, "The Need For Geriatrics Measures."
Submit comments on the CMS Proposed Rule by February 16.
Read the Age-Friendly Hospital Measure specifications.
Download the Age-Friendly Hospital Measure recommendations.
Read "The Need for Geriatrics Measures" in Health Affairs.
Learn more about Age-Friendly Health Systems, Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation and Geriatric Surgery Verification.