Age-Friendly Health Systems: Join the Movement
Ways to Get Involved
IHI offers multiple ways for health systems and individuals to join the movement based on your specific needs.
- Join an Action Community: Great resource for teams looking to implement age-friendly care in their health system or practice.
- Enroll in the IHI Online Course with Coaching: Excellent opportunity for individuals looking to learn more about age-friendly practices and make an impact within their daily work.
Learn more about these opportunities below.
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 to improve care in their health system.
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 January 2025
Register for the HANYS 2025 Action Community
Facilitated by: Healthcare Association of New York State
- Learn more in the HANYS Action Community flyer
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 and in the Invitation to Join the Spring 2025 Action Community.
Online Course with Coaching
The Online Course with Coaching is a new, in-depth course that teaches the elements of the 4Ms Framework and develops your ability to provide age-friendly care in various settings, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and home health agencies. Get started with age-friendly care as an individual and learn to act as a champion of age-friendly care within your health system.
IHI online courses with coaching combine self-directed sessions and live virtual instruction facilitated by expert IHI faculty. This design gives learners flexibility with their schedule, without sacrificing the deep learning that occurs with our specialized faculty.
Continuing education credits for this program are still being finalized and will be updated shortly.
Register for the March 2025 Online Course with Coaching
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.
State-Based Age-Friendly Health Systems Support
Everyone has a role to play in providing evidence-based care to older adults within a state. For years, organizations, such as hospital associations and non-profit organizations, have spearheaded the spread of the 4Ms across their networks and states.
The organizations listed below are providing engagement opportunities and additional support to health systems seeking Age-Friendly Health System recognition within their state. Formal guidance for organizations on State-based Age-Friendly approaches coming soon!
| US State | Organization | Point of Contact | |
| Colorado | Alzheimer's Association Region 4 | Danelle Hubbard, Health Systems Director | dhubbard@alz.org |
| Kansas | Kansas 4M Geriatrics Workforce Education Program | Teri Kennedy, Project Director/Principal Investigator | tkennedy4@kumc.edu |
| Nebraska | Nebraska Hospital Association | Matt Lentz, Quality Consultant | mlentz@nebraskahospitals.org |
| New York | Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) | Lance San Souci, Associate Director | LSanSouci@hanys.org |
| Pennsylvania* | Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) | Maureen Saxon Gioia, Nurse Project Manager | gioia@jhf.org |
*The current focus of JHF is to engage only nursing homes across Pennsylvania.
If you’re interested in learning more about state-based age-friendly care or want to lead an approach across your state or region, email AFHS@ihi.org.
Get Recognized as an Age-Friendly Health System
Join Friends of Age-Friendly Health Systems
Receive updates on the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement, invites to quarterly webinars, access to experts, support on the 4Ms Framework, and more.
Join the Community