Posted December 8, 2025

2025 Research Roundup: Advancing Age-Friendly Care

Posted In: Age-Friendly Health Systems, Family Caregiving, Serious Illness & End of Life, Publications, Professionals

This year saw the release of major collections of research and commentary on Age-Friendly Health Systems and age-friendly approaches across sectors. In addition, a broad range of peer-reviewed articles continued to build the evidence base for 4Ms care, highlight clinical and policy improvements for the care of older adults, and strengthen support for family caregivers.

Below is a roundup of selected journal publications from 2025:

Special Issues and Article Collections

• Special Collection Series on Age-Friendly Health Systems
  INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing
• Special Issue: The Promise of an Age-Friendly Ecosystem
  ASA Generations Journal
• Age-Friendly Health Series
  Health Affairs

"What Matters" and the 4Ms of Age-Friendly Care

• "Age Friendly Health Systems: Pivoting from Breadth to Depth"
  INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing
• "Guiding Age-Friendly Care Through “What Matters”: Restoring the Whole Person Back into Clinical Practice"
  Journal of General Internal Medicine
• "Awareness and Implementation of the Age-Friendly 4Ms Framework: A Needs Assessment Survey"
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
• "Patient-Centered Priorities for Older Adults in Ambulatory Care"
  JAMA Network Open
• "Invited Commentary: What Matters About What Matters Most"
  JAMA Network Open
• "Equitable Adoption of the 4Ms in Age-Friendly Care"
  ASA Generations Journal
• "What Matters Most: Case Study of Successful Patient-Directed Gabapentin Taper to Improve Mentation, Mobility, and Medications"
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
• "A Promising Prescription For Older Adults: Social Connection"
  Health Affairs

Improving Clinical Care for Older Adults

• "Improving Care for Those Living With Serious Illnesses and Individuals Approaching End of Life: A Decade of Investment"
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
• "Emergency Department Programs to Support Medication Safety in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis"
  JAMA Network Open
• "Users’ perspectives on a demonstration to increase shared access to older adults’ patient portals"
  BMC Health Services Research
• "A Multisite Demonstration of Shared Access to Older Adults’ Patient Portals"
  JAMA Network Open
• "Transitional Care Management Associated With More Healthy Days At Home, Lower Spending After Hospital Discharge"
  Health Affairs
• "Discharge to Postacute Care as a Benchmarking Metric for Elderly Surgical Patients"
  Journal of the American College of Surgeons
• "New-Onset Geriatric Syndromes among Patients Undergoing Major Operation: Impact on Clinical Outcomes and Quality of Life"
  Journal of the American College of Surgeons

Home-Based Care Models

• "Practice Standards for Acute Hospital Care at Home"
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
• "Stakeholder Perspectives on Development of a Home-Based Primary Care Practice Recognition Program"
  Journal of the American Medical Directors Association

Payment Models, Policy & Operations

• "A Path to Better Care for Older Adults: Optimizing Medicare and Medicaid Payments Through Implementation of the CMS Age-Friendly Hospital Measure"
  INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing
• "Advancing Parkinson’s Care and Patient Safety Through CMS’s Age-Friendly Hospital Measure"
  The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety
• "From 4Ms to 5 domains: ensuring new CMS Age-Friendly hospital measure improves care for older adults"
  Health Affairs Scholar
• "GUIDE and Beyond: Strategies for Comprehensive Dementia Care Integration"
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
• "Qualified Medicare Beneficiary Program: Enrollment Trends And Characteristics Of Low-Income Beneficiaries"
  Health Affairs
• "Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing Failed To Achieve Hospital Readmission Reductions And Other Targets"
  Health Affairs
  
• "CMS’s Hospice Star Rating System Limited By Missing Data"
  Health Affairs
• "Accelerating the pace of elder justice policy to meet the needs of a growing aging population"
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
• "Foreign-Born Workers Made Up Half The Increase In The Direct Care Workforce In Home And Community Settings, 2012–22"
  Health Affairs
• "Private Equity–Owned Hospices Report Highest Profits, Lowest Patient Care Spending Compared With Other Ownership Models"
  Health Affairs
  

Supporting Family Caregivers

• "Programmatic Research Outcomes Used to Establish the Evidence‐base of Dementia Caregiving Support Programs: An Analysis of Best Programs for Caregiving"
  Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions
• "As the US Ages, a Growing Movement Aims to Care for Caregivers"
  JAMA
• "The Number Of Family Caregivers Helping Older US Adults Increased From 18 Million To 24 Million, 2011–22"
  Health Affairs