Federal Practitioner Paper: Shifting Culture Toward Age-Friendly Care - Lessons From VHA Early Adopters
MDedge’s Federal Practitioner published a paper, "Shifting Culture Toward Age-Friendly Care: Lessons From Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Early Adopters."
"In March 2020, the VHA Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care (GEC) set the goal for the VHA to be recognized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) as an Age-Friendly Health System (AFHS). US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities that joined the AFHS movement in 2020 are considered early adopters."
The paper talks about two early adopters at Birmingham VA Health Care System (BVAHCS) hospital, geriatrics assessment clinic (GAC), and Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) and at the Atlanta VA Medical Center (AVAMC) HBPC, that demonstrated successful AFHS implementation spanning different VHA facilities and care settings.
The authors offer lessons learnt on AFHS delivery and lay out opportunities to sustaining age-friendly care. Key lessons learned include the importance of identifying, preparing and supporting a champion to lead this effort, facility and leadership support at the outset and integration with the electronic health record (EHR) for reliable data capture, reporting and feedback.
Read the article.
Go to the GEC VA AFHS Initiative webpage.
Learn more about IHI's AFHS initiative.
Learn more about JAHF's co-support of the AFHS initiative.
