Included in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Medicare fee-for-service hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) fiscal year (FY) 2025 final rule is a reimbursement model for hospitals submitting age-friendly quality data.
Hospitals will be asked to report on several measures to assess whether they are improving care for older patients in emergency departments, operating rooms and other settings.
Hospitals will need to report that they are:
- Attesting annually to having procedures that enable patients’ healthcare goals, such as determining whether living wills and healthcare proxies are included in care plans.
- Reviewing medication regimens and eliminating unnecessary prescriptions.
- Implementing frailty screenings and interventions, such as for mobility or cognition.
- Assessing social vulnerabilities, such as isolation or elder abuse.
- Designating age-specialized leadership within hospitals.
The CMS will add the age-friendly structural measures to the FY 2025 inpatient quality reporting program reporting, which will impact Medicare payments in FY 2027.
The MHA Keystone Center has supported numerous age-friendly initiatives in recent years, including Age-Friendly Health Systems Action Communities, which implements the 4Ms framework (What Matters, Medication, Mentation and Mobility) – aligning with the proposed measures outlined by CMS.
Members seeking assistance implementing age-friendly policies and procedures should contact the MHA Keystone Center.
Members with questions about the IPPS final rule should contact Vickie Kunz at the MHA.