To access Week in Review archives, click here.
3/7/2025
AGS greatly appreciates our 200+ members who contacted their legislators, sending over 700 messages, to address the payments cuts in the Medicare system – your voice as constituents is critically important to our collective advocacy efforts. We encourage others to join us in urging your members of Congress to pass H.R. 879, the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act, in the next spending package. This bipartisan bill would prospectively cancel the 2.83% cut to Medicare payments that took effect on January 1 and provide a 2.0% payment update. As we continue to advocate for long-term Medicare payment system reforms, this legislation is a helpful first step toward ensuring financial stability for providers and continued access to needed medical services for older adults, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Click here to take action.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is accepting applications for additional residency positions through March 31, 2025, for fiscal year (FY) 2026. As part of the implementation of Section 126 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (round 4 applications), an additional 1,000 graduate medical education (GME) full-time equivalent (FTE) resident cap slots have been made available, phased in at 200 slots per year beginning FY 2023. In addition, Section 4122 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, made available an additional 200 GME FTE resident cap slots beginning in FY 2026. The FTE resident cap slots awarded will be announced by January 31, 2026, and are effective July 1, 2026. The applications for additional slots under both Section 126 and Section 4122 can be found here.
Learn more at the following links:
We are excited to announce the release of the Joint Clinical Practice Guideline on Benzodiazepine Tapering: Considerations When Benzodiazepine Risks Outweigh Benefits. This Guideline was developed through a partnership of 10 medical and professional societies, including AGS. Special thanks to Marcia Mecca, MD and Donovan Maust, MD, MS for their representation of AGS on the writing group.
Funded by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), this document offers information on evidence-informed and consensus-based strategies to help clinicians determine whether tapering benzodiazepine medications may be appropriate for a given patient, and, if so, how to taper them.
To access the full Guideline along with other tools to support its implementation, visit this link: Benzodiazepine Tapering.
The following resources are available to support implementation:
- A webinar series to explore guideline concepts in depth (registration now open)
- A provider pocket guide summarizing key recommendations
- A patient pocket guide for patients and families
- Microlearning videos highlighting key takeaways from the guideline, and more
Aurora Health has partnered with the AGS's Acute Care Special Interest Group and Clinical Practice and Models of Care Committee on their Geriatric Models of Care Collaborative.
The Geriatric Models of Care Collaborative provides the opportunity to learn about different geriatric models of care to address the needs of complex older adults through its quarterly webinars featuring new research in geriatrics care and recent Models of Care papers. Geriatricians, nurses, physical therapists, case managers, and social workers across different settings in academic or community hospitals in the United States are encouraged to join.
This quarter's meeting will feature a presentation on:
Long-Term Trajectories of Older Adults Served by an Emergency Department/Hospital-Based Elder Mistreatment Response Program – Daniel Baek, MD
Scaling and spreading age-friendly care: Early lessons from the VA National Age-Friendly Action Community – Andrea Schwartz, MD, MPH, AGSF
This call for applications to serve on the JAGS Editorial Board will be open until March 21, 2025.
Being a JAGS editorial board member is an opportunity to engage in the selection and guidance of cutting-edge research and scholarship for the leading clinical geriatrics journal. The primary role of editorial board members is to provide at least 6 high quality timely reviews per year.
JAGS is seeking applicants with the following qualifications:
- Academic faculty at the Instructor, Assistant, Associate, or Professor level
- Reviewed for JAGS at least 3 times in the last 12 months
- Reviews are of high quality
- Member of the American Geriatrics Society
Applicants from backgrounds that are traditionally under-represented in medicine are encouraged and welcome to apply.
More details on eligibility and editorial board member expectations can be found at here (pdf).
To apply, please send the following via email to JAGS Managing Editor, Kylie Bade, at jagseditorialoffice@wiley.com
- A paragraph on why you are qualified and your motivation for joining the JAGS editorial board. Please also include one suggestion on how to make JAGS the best clinical geriatrics journal it can be. Please also include a few brief sentences describing how you contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion and how you can enhance these values while on the editorial board.
- Your NIH biosketch or CV
The AGS In-Person Mentoring Program is back – If you are attending the AGS 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago be sure to sign up for our #AGS25 In-Person Mentoring Program. We are taking registration for both Mentees and Mentors.
Mentors, this is your opportunity to share your expertise, insights, and guidance with a motivated mentee, all while expanding your own network.
Mentees, registration is now open for you too! This is your chance to connect with experienced professionals who can offer guidance, advice, and valuable perspectives to help you reach your goals.
Sign up as a mentor or mentee today!
Once you've completed the mentor application form, the AGS Junior Faculty Special Interest Group will match mentors and mentees based on experience, research and career interests. In late April, you will be notified of your match and given information to help you connect with your mentor/mentee match in Chicago during the Annual Scientific Meeting. Whether you're just starting out or looking to give back, the AGS Mentoring Program connects seasoned professionals across fields with motivated mentees to provide guidance and foster community within the field of aging.
For questions, please email Ashley Evans at aevans@americangeriatrics.org
World Delirium Awareness Day is on Wednesday, March 12th! This day, hosted by the International Federation of Delirium Societies, serves to highlight the importance of early detection, appropriate management, and ongoing research to improve outcomes for individuals, specifically older adults, affected by delirium. #WDAD2025
Get Involved!
- Head to X and post at the AGS (@AmerGeriatrics) about what you are doing to raise delirium awareness, education and prevention. Make sure to end your post with #WDAD2025 #stopdelirium to ensure your message is grouped with World Delirium Awareness Day
- Check out the AGS X account here and make sure to hashtag!
- Check out the International Federation of Delirium Societies as they promote new activities and information leading up to #WDAD2025.
- Access and share AGS Health in Aging Patient & Family Resources on Delirium with your patients and their caregivers.
Want to learn more about implementing AGS CoCare®: HELP to prevent delirium and provide age-friendly care? Check out our short video about AGS CoCare®: HELP or email us at cocarehelp@americangeriatrics.org.
The Plenary Paper Session is always one of the most highly anticipated sessions at every AGS Annual Scientific Meeting. Learn more about this year's session below.
- Plenary Paper Session (5/8; 9:30 am - 10:15 am CT)
In this session, the top three research abstracts based on average score, quality, originality and methodology of research will be presented. They are as follows:
Age-Related Declines in Physical Resilience and Mitochondria in C57BL/6J Mice
Saurav Saha, PhD
Family Caregiver Distress, Nursing Home Placement and Psychotropic Drug Prescribing Among Care Recipients Living with Dementia: A Population-Based Propensity-Matched Study in Ontario, Canada
Nathan M. Stall, MD, PhD
Prevalence and Impact of Geriatric Syndromes in Hospitalized Older Adults: Results from the CHANGE Study
Thiago J. Avelino-Silva, MD, PhD
Annual Meeting Travel Tip!
Be ready to travel to the AGS Annual Meeting! Beginning May 7, 2025, every air traveler 18 and older will need a state-issued REAL ID-compliant license or identification card, or another acceptable form of ID (such as a passport), to fly within the United States. If you don't have a REAL ID, you'll need to use another acceptable form of identification when flying within the U.S.
If you ever receive an email from an AGS Board member or staff member asking, “Can you do me a favor?” - especially if it involves purchasing gift cards or sending money - it’s a scam! AGS leadership and staff will never make these types of requests.
To protect yourself:
- Check the sender’s email address—scammers often use lookalike accounts.
- Be wary of urgent or vague requests that push you to act quickly.
- If you’re unsure, contact the person directly using a known, official email or phone number.
Stay vigilant and report suspicious emails to your IT team or email provider. For more tips on how to spot a scam, check out these tips from the Federal Trade Commission.
The AGS Opportunities for Investigators resource serves as a central location for geriatrics and aging-related opportunities such as grant funding, presentation or publication submissions, travel stipends for scholarly meetings, networking events, comment periods, and in-person or virtual meetings and webinars. Some upcoming opportunities we'd like to highlight include:
Nursing Home Explanatory Clinical Trials Supporting Transformation by Enhancing Partnerships (NEXT STEPs) pilot applications are now open. NEXT STEPs pilot awards aim to support high-quality research by advising on research design, disseminating best practices, and sharing findings to improve nursing home care. Apply by April 8th, 2025.
The MyAGSOnline Events Calendar is a valuable resource to discover and register for upcoming events, webinars, and other opportunities. We'd like to highlight the following upcoming event:- Join the Advancing Excellence in Long-Term Care Collaborative on March 25 at 12pm ET to learn strategies for CNA apprenticeship recruitment and retention. Complimentary 1 CE Credit for Nurses, Case Managers, Social Workers (MN), and NAB is available for full webinar attendance. You can register and learn more by clicking here.
Have an opportunity or event you'd like to see listed? Email the details to Jennifer Fisher at jfisher@americangeriatrics.org