Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), in partnership with the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). The goal is to build a social movement so that all care with older adults is age-friendly. Specifically, it aims to reach older adults in 2,600 places of care by June 30, 2023.

IHI recognizes clinical care settings that are working towards reliable practice of evidence-based interventions for all older adults in their care known as the 4Ms (4Ms: What Matters, Medications, Mentation, Mobility). Learn more about the 4Ms in the Age-Friendly Health Systems Guide to Using the 4Ms in the Care of Older Adults in Hospitals and Ambulatory Care Practices.

IHI recognizes care locations at two milestones on their Age-Friendly Health System journey:

• Level 1: An Age-Friendly Health System Participant has completed a 4Ms Care Description to outline how it will assess, document, and act on all 4Ms at its care setting. At first, their 4Ms Care Description might represent a plan that they will test and work towards reliably performing. 4Ms Care Description fillable PDF forms for submission can be found on the Recognition page (see above).
• Level 2: An Age-Friendly Health System — Committed to Care Excellence is working toward reliable practice of the 4Ms. They have achieved level 1 and have submitted at least three months of counts of the number of older adults that have received care that included all 4Ms. Counts of older adults reached can be submitted with the bottom portion of the 4Ms Care Description form that was submitted for level 1 recognition.

Age-Friendly Health System recognitions are made at the facility level including hospitals, practices, nursing homes and convenient care clinics.

First, learn the 4Ms Framework by reviewing the Age-Friendly Health System Guide to Using the 4Ms in the Care of Older Adults. For additional guidance from experts and peer health systems, you can sign up to join an Action Community or receive asynchronous virtual support. 

Building on what you already have in practice, use the 4Ms Care Description worksheet to outline how you will close the gap and reliably practice all 4Ms. Share your 4Ms Care Description with IHI through this electronic form.

IHI will recognize care locations as Participants (Level 1) for submitting a completed 4Ms Care Description. You will receive an email from AFHS@ihi.org within 3 weeks celebrating you as an Age-Friendly Health System Participant. 

The email might indicate the need to make updates to your 4Ms Care Description to bring it into alignment with the Guide to Using the 4Ms in the Care of Older Adults. You can email updates to your 4Ms Care Description to AFHS@ihi.org. If no updates are needed, you will be invited to begin working toward Committed to Care Excellence (Level 2) Recognition by submitting counts of the number of older adults receiving 4Ms care for 3 months. 

There is no cost associated with Age-Friendly Health Systems Recognition. Thanks to generous support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, IHI offers implementation support and recognition at no cost to health systems. ​

When your organization is recognized, you will receive a toolkit for celebrating your efforts within your organization and community. The toolkit includes a "badge" that you can add to your email signature and slides or print and display. It also includes templates and best practices for communicating your achievement via press releases and on social media. IHI will list the name of your care location on the Age-Friendly Health Systems Recognition web page. IHI and The John A. Hartford Foundation may also celebrate recognized care locations in press releases, on social media, and in other settings.  

Submissions are reviewed and responses are emailed from AFHS@ihi.org throughout the month. You should receive an email with information about your recognition status within three weeks. Email AFHS@ihi.org for questions.

You do not need to take additional action to sustain your original recognition. Instead, focus on improving the reliability and spread of the 4Ms within your health system.

We encourage recognized care locations to continue their Age-Friendly Health Systems journey in the following ways:

• ​If you are a Participant, make edits to your 4Ms Care Description to align with the Guide to Using the 4Ms in the Care of Older Adults (if the need was indicated in your Participant email from AFHS@ihi.org) and measure the number of older adults that are receiving care that includes all 4Ms in your care setting. Submit at least 3 months counts to be recognized as Committed to Care Excellence. 
• Scale-up Age-Friendly care in your setting by bringing the 4Ms to additional facilities and achieving recognition in those locations.