Three Ways to Join

IHI offers three ways for health systems and individuals to join the movement based on the ​degree of interest and self-motivation:

• Action Communities
• Do-It-Yourself Participation
• Scale-up Accelerator

Action Communities

Action Communities enable teams to accelerate reliable practice of the 4Ms in an active community of learners and testers. This 7-month journey to Recognition provides a structure for learning with and from other health systems and expert faculty. Over the course of the Action Community, teams participate in webinars and attend an in-person meeting (when possible) and develop their plan for practicing the 4Ms.

Action Communities are scheduled periodically throughout the year and facilitated by IHI or other organizations. ​If your health system or practice is interested in the Action Community,​​ see the upcoming opportunities below.

Upcoming Action Communities

Action Community: Begins September 10, 2024

Register for the Fall 2024 Action Community

Facilitated by: American Hospital Association

• Information on the webinar featuring Christine Jenson, Director, Health Services Research, and Elisa Lemmon, RN, MSN, from Riverside Health System in Virginia: 
  • Watch the replay of the session here: Improving Health Outcomes for Older Adults Through Age-Friendly Health Systems. 
  • View the slide deck here
  • Review the webinar questions and answers here 
• Learn more in the Action Community Invitation to Join

Action Community: Begins Spring 2025

Register for the Spring 2025 Action Community

Facilitated by: Institute for Healthcare Improvement

• Learn more in the Action Community flyer

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Participation

Some health systems are able to adopt the 4Ms without requiring the intensive support of an Action Community or Scale-up Accelerator services. IHI now offers this pathway for systems that are motivated and want to start right away without waiting for an Action Community enrollment opportunity.

• Learn more about how to submit a 4Ms care description and get recognized.
• Looking for a structured primer on Age-Friendly Health Systems? Check out our Open School course to get started.

Scale-up Accelerator

​For large health systems, IHI provides customized Age-Friendly Scale-up Accelerator support to achieve system-wide spread. Through this mechanism, larger systems that make becoming Age-Friendly Health Systems a strategic imperative will receive specialized services aimed at supporting system leadership, clinical leadership, and point-of-care operations ​to adopt the 4Ms care practices.

For more details, please reach out to our team at afhs@ihi.org.