The GWEP-CC Continuous Age-Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) Action Community is being held exclusively for the current 42 Cohort 3 GWEPs. Launched in January 2025, this continuous action community maintains a learning community for all GWEPs and their partners as they collectively work towards achieving Age-Friendly recognition.
The GWEP-CC AFHS Action Communities are designed for the GWEPs and their primary care practice partners as an on-ramp community to test and act on the 4Ms (What Matters, Medication, Mentation, Mobility). They provide multiple educational and networking opportunities for participants, as well as resources and tools to enhance understanding of the 4Ms through the journey in becoming recognized as an Age-Friendly Health System.
As of January 2025, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) awarded Level 1 recognition to 111 partners sites and Level 2 recognition to 39 partner sites. The sites who received Level 1 recognition are partnered with 22 of the Cohort 3 GWEPs and the Level 2 sites represent 14 Cohort 3 GWEPs.
The GWEP-CC previously held two action communities between 2019 and 2024 for the 48 Cohort 2 GWEPs with 273 partner sites (representing all 48 Cohort 2 GWEPs) awarded Level 1 recognition and 28 partner sites (representing 31 Cohort 2 GWEPs) awarded Level 2 recognition.
An overview of these recognitions can be seen in the chart below:
| GWEP Grantees | Age-Friendly Health System Participants* (Level-1 recognition) | Age-Friendly Health Systems – Committed to Care Excellence (Level-2 recognition)** |
|---|---|---|
| Cohort 3 (2024-2027) |
|
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| Cohort 2 (2019-2024) |
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Click below for the list of recognized participants.
GWEP-CC AFHS Recognition List (Cohort 3)
GWEP-CC AFHS Recognition List (Cohort 2)
Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in partnership with the American Hospital Association and Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). The Action Community also draws on the expertise of the Advisory Group and experts in the 4Ms, testing and scale-up methodology, and organizational psychology. It is focused on following an essential set of evidence-based practices (known as the 4Ms) so that all care with older adults is Age-Friendly care.
* An Age-Friendly Health System Participant is recognized for being on the journey to becoming an Age-Friendly Health System and has submitted a description of how it is putting the 4Ms into practice.
** An Age-Friendly Health System Committed to Care Excellence is a recognition for being an exemplar in the movement based on:
- Having a description of how the 4Ms are being operationalized that is aligned with the Age-Friendly Health System Guide to Using the 4Ms in the Care of Older Adults and which has been approved by IHI.
- Having submitted at least three months’ count of older adults reached with evidence-based, 4Ms care.