Healthcare Educational and Research Fund (on behalf of the Healthcare Association of New York State)

Although older adults are thriving and participating meaningfully in community and family life, they are also high utilizers of the health care system, have complex and unique health care needs, and face challenges in accessing patient-centered care.

New York State is undertaking efforts to become an age-friendly health system, which entail implementing evidence-based elements across care settings to improve the health outcomes and patient experience for older adults. In 2020, NYHealth awarded the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) a grant to support the launch and implementation of an age-friendly health systems action community across the State.

Under this grant, HANYS partnered with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) to develop a learning community for health systems and help them integrate evidence-based care for older adults. HANYS recruited sites and used a standardized quality improvement framework to launch and lead an action community comprising hospitals, community health centers, and community-based organizations across New York State. HANYS conducted webinar trainings for each site on implementing best-practice interventions related to patient-centered care for older adults, as well as hosted regional events for networking and sharing lessons learned. Additionally, HANYS partnered with community-based organizations to facilitate sector collaboration and promote a continuum of care between health care and community settings. HANYS worked with participating sites on submitting the proper paperwork to secure age-friendly recognition, as well as developed recommendations with NYSDOH for scaling the program to additional health systems.