Celebrating the VA's Leadership in the Age-Friendly Health System Movement
This Veterans Day and throughout the month, JAHF is celebrating the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) leadership in the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement.
We are encouraging all VA medical centers to join the next Action Community to help them deliver age-friendly care focused on what matters to older Veterans.
Learn more about the VA’s progress below and share these resources by clicking the icons on the left.
Becoming the Largest Age-Friendly Health System in the US
Our older Veterans deserve access to safe, reliable, high-quality health care in every setting based on what matters most to them – that’s age-friendly care. With more than 100 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers recognized as age-friendly, the VA is on track to become the largest age-friendly health system in the country, with a vision of having every older Veteran receive age-friendly care in all parts of the system.
Spreading Age-Friendly Care to all VA Sites
All VA sites are encouraged to join the 2024 VA AFHS Action Community. The seven-month program for VA hospitals, clinics and other sites of care provides monthly webinars and coaching to assist teams on their age-friendly journey.
Showcasing the VA’s Commitment in Video Testimonials
This summer, front-line staff from every Veteran Integrated Service Network gathered to accelerate the adoption of age-friendly care within the VA. Learn more about their 5-year plan with these sharable testimonials from attendees.
Sharing Outcomes and Implementation Lessons
As the VA quickly becomes the largest AFHS in the U.S., champions of age-friendly care are providing learnings on sustaining the work and the benefits and challenges of widespread implementation. Read our post about a recent study highlighting lessons learned from the VA’s early adopters of age-friendly care.
The journal Health Services Research published a commentary and research articles from the VA, including:
- Provider Discussion of Health Goals and Psychosocial Needs: Comparing Older to Younger Veteran Experience
- Telehealth for Geriatric Post-Emergency Department Visits to Promote Age-Friendly Care
- Perceived Benefits of Geriatric Specialty Telemedicine among Rural Patients and Caregivers Research
Acting on What Matters
Military service represents a profound commitment and sacrifice. One way to honor this dedication is to ensure that what matters to Veterans are respected and honored throughout their care.
- The Conversation Project provides a useful guide for starting conversations about preferences for care with Veterans at the end of life.
- Patient Priorities Care has produced a toolkit and training modules specific for VA sites to implement its gold-standard approach to helping older patients understand and identify their care priorities, especially when facing multiple chronic conditions.
Implementing Age-Friendly Care in the Emergency Department
The majority of VA emergency departments have earned Geriatric Emergency Department (ED) Accreditation by the American College of Emergency Physicians, where teams implement best practices for providing care to older adults in the ED. The Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative offers resources to help VA EDs adopt age-friendly practices that can lead to accreditation.
Explaining Age-Friendly Care to Older Veterans
Spread the word about age-friendly care for Veterans by sharing this brochure and poster from the VA.
Learn more about the VA Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative.
Learn more about the VA AFHS Action Community.
Learn more about the AFHS initiative.
Learn more about JAHF's co-support of the AFHS initiative.
