Capital Health Participates in National Age-Friendly Health Systems Initiative

Capital Health has joined the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, a movement to improve health care for older adults, contributing to a goal of continuing to expand and grow age-friendly care. Capital Health is now part of an international group of more than 5,200 health systems working to tailor care to patients' goals and preferences and to deliver care that is consistently of the highest quality.

"The Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative is an important part of our overarching vision to provide every older adult with the best care possible. By participating in this vital movement, we look forward to sharing our best practices and learning what's working for others providing age-friendly care," said Dr. Eugene McMahon, Chief Medical Officer at Capital Health.

As part of the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States,​ are helping health care organizations like Capital Health implement a set of evidence-based interventions specifically designed to improve care for older adults. These interventions are known as the "4Ms" - What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility.

Capital Health earned Level 1 recognition as an Age-Friendly Health System Participant for implementing a series of practices to address the 4Ms of care for older patients at Capital Health Regional Medical Center and Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell.

What Matters: For patients age 65 and older, Capital Health clinicians engage older adults in conversations about their care goals and care preferences during hospitalization. Nurses assess "what matters most" to patients during admission and document their answers to align care plans and guide interventions.

Medication: Capital Health is focused on ensuring older adults receive medications that are safe, evidence-based, and aligned with their goals of care. High-risk medication alerts and dose-range checkingare embedded in the electronic health record. Nurses monitor for adverse medication effects and escalate concerns as appropriate.

Mentation: To prevent, identify, treat, and manage dementia, depression, and delirium across care settings, Capital Health screens all inpatients age 65 and older for delirium using a brief, standardized delirium assessment tool. Nurses document the results during admission and reassess at least every 12 hours. Positive screenings are escalated to the appropriate clinician for management, which may include hydration support, orientation, access to personal adaptive equipment, sleep promotion using non-pharmacologic strategies, and avoidance of high-risk medications.

Mobility: To ensure that hospitalized older adults move safely every day to maintain function and advance care goals and preferences, a standardized mobility assessment is required for all patients 18 years and older within 24 hours of admission. The assessment generates safe patient handling recommendations that clinicians may adjust based on their clinical judgement and the patient's current condition.

"Collaborative learning opportunities across the initiative bring together health care teams committed to sharing data and improving together," said Dr. Jerrold Gertzman, Chief Medical Officer at Capital Health. "All teams strive toward reliably implementing age-friendly best practices across hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, home health agencies and primary and specialty care settings."

Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the US. For more information, visit www.ihi.org/agefriendly.

Capital Health is the Central New Jersey/Lower Bucks County region's leader in providing progressive, quality patient care with significant investments in physicians, nurses and staff, as well as advanced technology. Comprised of two state-of-the-art hospitals (Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton and Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell), outpatient facilities in Bordentown and Hamilton, New Jersey, a satellite emergency department on the campus of Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, New Jersey, and an extensive network of primary and specialty care practices across the region, Capital Health is a dynamic health care system accredited by DNV. To learn more, visit capitalhealth.org.