New Grants Totaling $13.5 Million Approved by JAHF Board of Trustees
The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees approved new grants totaling $13,514,138 to advance the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement toward national scale through clinical practice, research, education and policy.
Age-Friendly Health Systems Movement: From Momentum to Impact at Scale, Phase IV
($7,279,163 for 3 years)
Institute for Healthcare Improvement
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) will propel the Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) movement toward a critical tipping point for national scale, reaching 20 percent of all older adults (14 million people) with age-friendly care annually by 2030. IHI will orchestrate a unified national strategy to strengthen implementation of the 4Ms Framework for age-friendly care—What Matters, Medication, Mentation and Mobility—across health systems and care settings; align policy, payment, regulation and technology with the 4Ms; advance the AFHS recognition process; and rapidly translate implementation learning into practical, field-ready tools that make reliable 4Ms care easier to deliver at scale. The grant will also advance family caregiver engagement as an essential component of age-friendly care. Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the American Hospital Association.
Strengthening the National Research Infrastructure for Age-Friendly Health Systems Evidence
($2,989,693 for 3 years)
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is leading a national effort to strengthen the evidence base for Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS). Building on a prior grant that established an AFHS Research Council and national Research Network with more than 700 members, this three-year project will strengthen the AFHS research community, build shared data and measurement infrastructure, and identify consensus-based measures for the AFHS movement. The project will generate policy-relevant evidence aligned with federal priorities, including the CMS Age Friendly Hospital Measure and Veterans Health Administration implementation. The project will also produce actionable, high-quality evidence that health systems can use to improve care for older adults.
A National Strategy to Improve Nursing Home Quality, Advancing Moving Forward Coalition Priorities and the Teaching Nursing Homes Model, Phase III
($2,619,660 for 3 years)
LeadingAge and Health Careers Futures, Jewish Healthcare Foundation
Two initiatives will advance a national strategy to improve nursing home quality through nursing education and nationwide scaling of proven age-friendly care initiatives. Together, the initiatives will also advance the development and consideration of a CMS age-friendly nursing home quality measure.
- The Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition (Grantee: LeadingAge; PI: Jennifer Baker; $1,400,000 for 2 years; starts 2027) will continue to strengthen the national advocacy infrastructure needed to improve nursing home quality and create tools to support nursing home resident councils, improve Certified Nursing Assistant career pathways, and embed residents’ goals, preferences and priorities into care, operations and policy.
- The Teaching Nursing Home Collaborative (Grantee: Health Careers Futures, Jewish Healthcare Foundation; PI: Nancy D. Zionts; $1,219,660 for 3 years) will engage 1,500 nursing homes to advance nursing student placements and academic partnerships, and assist 500 nursing homes in achieving Age-Friendly Health Systems recognition.
Developing an NCQA Age-Friendly Medicare Advantage Health Plan Program to Distinguish High Performers
($625,622 for 2.5 years)
National Committee for Quality Assurance
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) will develop and launch a new Age-Friendly Health Plan Program to strengthen accountability for age-friendly care across Medicare Advantage plans nationwide. As health plans play a key role in shaping care for a growing older adult population, the program will address a critical gap by creating a standardized mechanism to assess, recognize and incentivize delivery of the Age-Friendly Health Systems 4Ms Framework—What Matters, Medication, Mentation and Mobility. NCQA will engage Medicare Advantage plans to pilot and refine the program and align it with CMS Star Ratings and other value‑based payment levers. This initiative has the potential to influence plan behavior at scale, accelerate adoption of age‑friendly practices across provider networks and improve the quality of care for millions of older adults.
