West Health Encourages Community to Support Age Friendly Hospital Measure CMS-1808-P

Thank you to all who submitted comments in support of the Age Friendly Hospital Measure within the 2025 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) rule as part of the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). At West Wealth we are thrilled CMS is adopting this measure and we know this is an important step toward improving hospital care for older Americans.

Click here to read West Health’s full statement on the new CMS hospital measure.

This is a critical moment to advocate for older adults. The Age Friendly Hospital Measure has made it to the final stage of CMS approval and is now included in the IPPS proposed rule.  Submitting a comment in support of the Age Friendly Hospital Measure at this stage may be the difference between CMS permanently including or excluding this measure into the 2025 Hospital IPPS rule. Details regarding the Age Friendly Hospital Measure may be found on pages 903-913 of the IPPS Proposed Rule. Here is an excerpt summarizing the Age Friendly Hospital Measure.

The Age Friendly Hospital Measure will begin with the CY 2025 Reporting Period/FY 2027 Payment Determination. This measure will be within the Hospital IQR Program, which is a pay-for-reporting program that requires acute care hospitals to submit data on quality measures to CMS annually, which are publicly reported on CMS Care Compare website. Adoption of the Age Friendly Hospital Measure rule would require hospitals within the Hospital IQR Program to report the extent to which they meet all elements within each of the 5 domains to avoid financial penalties from CMS. As there is a significant financial penalty for not participating, most hospitals participate in the Hospital IQR Program (excluding children’s, psychiatric, rehabilitation, and long-term hospitals). The penalty for not reporting all required Hospital IQR Program measures, according to the Hospital IQR Program website: “the reduction would be by one-quarter of such applicable annual payment rate update”.

We have created a template you can use for your submission. This template is intended for hospitals and health systems supporting the CMS IPPS Age Friendly Hospital Measure; please modify the template to adapt to your needs.

We believe adoption of this measure will improve care for older adults across the United States.  Thank you for considering this valuable action to advocate for the wellbeing of our communities. Please share this page and associated links with all who may wish to support the Age Friendly Hospital Measure.

Click here to see West Health’s submitted comments.

5 Attestation Domains

Adoption of the Age Friendly Hospital Measure rule would require hospitals within the Hospital IQR Program to report the extent to which they meet all elements within each of the following 5 domains to avoid financial penalties from CMS:

Domain 1: Elicit Patient Healthcare Goals

Domain 2: Responsible Medication Management

Domain 3: Frailty Screening and Intervention

Domain 4: Social Vulnerability

Domain 5: Age-Friendly Care Leadership