Aging and Community Health

The AMA's program on Aging and Community Health serves to enable physicians to prevent and postpone disease and disability and to maintain the well-being, independence, and mobility of an aging population.

New

Medical Management of the Home Care Patient
The AMA is pleased to announce that Medical Management of the Home Care Patient: Guidelines for Physicians, 4th edition is now available. This publication describes the myriad aspects associated with the medical management of the home care patient and is designed to help physicians initiate and oversee the safe, effective and appropriate utilization of home and community-based services to improve their patients' health outcomes and prevent unnecessary rehospitalizations. Learn more

Geriatric Care By Design
The AMA is pleased to announce that Geriatric Care by Design is now available in both ebook and paper format. This resource highlights the unique needs of aging patients in a physician practice through a design/practice management perspective. This publication features easy-to-implement ideas and templates that are readily available at your fingertips for making changes both big and small in your practice.  Read more

Resources

Read AMA Leader Commentary, Coping with baby boomers, and staggering statistics in the September 20 issue of AMNews.

The 2010 edition of Physician's Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers is now available.
This guide was developed by the AMA in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Resources to Enhance Partnerships Between Clinical Practices and Public Health

New - Preventive Services Report and Interactive Data Tool
In 2009, the CDC/AARP/AMA released Promoting Preventive Services for Adults 50-64:Community and Clinical Partnerships.  This report delineates science-based strategies and highlights "calls to action" that build on linkages between clinical and community efforts to facilitate the delivery of multiple preventive services. An interactive Web site is now available to view and compare summary national, regional, state and selected local data for research, program and strategic planning, grant applications, and health news reporting.

Effective Clinical Partnerships Between Primary Care Medical Practices and Public Health Agencies
This monograph is intended to encourage integration between population-oriented and individual patient care systems.

Effective Clinical Partnerships brochure
This monograph and brochure contain 2009 study results of identifying partnerships between public health and medicine that increase the effectiveness and efficiency of clinical care, with a particular emphasis on the aging population.  Through an examination of current models, included are themes and lessons that would be useful in the expansion, replication, and broader application of such partnerships.

State-by-State Percentages for Key Indicators

For more information on clinical partnerships, please contact Cheryl Irmiter, PhD.

Achieving Competences in the Care of Older Adults

View the November 3, 2010 issue of JAMA which was a theme issue on aging.

JAMA launches new series, " Care of the Aging Patient: From Evidence to Action"
A series of articles to assist physicians in caring for the aging patient JAMA, Dec. 23/30, 2009

"Efforts underway to prepare physicians to care for growing elderly population"
JAMA, Aug. 19, 2009

"Aging America: Meeting the Needs of Older Americans and the Crisis of Geriatrics"
May 2009 issue of Academic Medicine includes articles on"Aging America: Meeting the Needs of Older Americans and the Crisis of Geriatrics" describing the process of developing the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) geriatric comptencies for medical schools.

Geriatric competencies for medical schools
These twenty-six geriatric competencies were initiated by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to guide education standards to ensure that every geriatric patient is receiving appropriate care.

Under development currently are geriatric competencies at the residency level for family, internal and emergency medicine as well as general surgery.  For more information contact Joanne Schwartzberg, MD.