More offices join the ‘age-friendly’ lineup

January 19, 2023

The UHS Values of Respect and Teamwork are in exciting focus as four more teams have been recognized as “age-friendly” primary care sites. The locations of UHS Binghamton Internal Medicine and UHS Primary Care Windsor, Deposit and Oneonta have received the designation.

Members of the UHS Senior Team, along with Mitzi Sherba and Regina Schaffer, recently rounded at the sites to offer their congratulations. “A year’s worth of work and a lot of team collaboration resulted in these teams obtaining this recognition,” Regina said. “Here is just another example of how we are putting our Values into practice and keeping the patient the center of everything we do.”

First badges announced last year

Dec. 28, 2022—Primary care offices of UHS Hospitals recently earned badges designating them as “4M Age-Friendly Health System Committed to Care Excellence” practices from the nationally renowned Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Healthcare Association of New York State.

“This signifies UHS Hospitals’ commitment to older patients using the evidence-based 4M model of care,” said Frank Eder, MD, a provider with UHS Primary Care Upper Front Street in Binghamton. “Age-friendly facilities see improvement in patient experience scores and quality outcomes, such as readmissions, emergency department utilization and length of stay.”

Said Regina Schaffer, multi-specialty manager at UHS Hospitals: “This designation lets UHS Hospitals patients know that older adults matter to us. They’re a population with unique issues, and the 4M excellence badge shows that our staff are aware of this and willing to work toward better quality outcomes.”

The 4M designation means that primary care patients age 65 and older are intentionally engaged in their healthcare to achieve better outcomes. During their visits, patients are asked what matters most to them about their health, both short- and long-term, along with questions about mobility, mentation and medication (the four M’s).

UHS Hospitals ‘age-friendly’ designation aligns with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive order creating the state’s first-ever “master plan for aging,” signed on Nov. 4. This is a bold step in reinforcing New York’s leading role as an “age-friendly state,” according to HANYS, of which UHS is a long-standing member. The coordination of state agencies, community organizations and healthcare institutions’ work on aging will position the Empire State to better care for the growing population of older adults.

In keeping with the principles of Gov. Hochul’s “master plan for aging,” the intense effort put forward by UHS Hospitals demonstrates the Southern Tier not-for-profit healthcare system’s commitment to exceptional care of older people. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement noted that health organizations like UHS Hospitals “have successfully developed plans to implement the 4Ms” and have taken extra steps to measure and sustain outcomes.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population aged 65-plus is expected to nearly double over the next 30 years, from 43.1 million to an estimated 83.7 million by 2050. In fact, the 65-plus group is expected to outpace the under-18 segment of the population by 2034, a historic first. The 4M excellence badge is especially relevant in upstate New York, as the aging population here continues to expand: One in five people in Broome County is over age 65. Since starting the process in December 2021, UHS Hospitals primary care practices have served more than 30,000 patients age 65-plus.

“We’ve always been invested in optimizing the care we provide to our patients,” said Mitzi Sherba, director of Primary Care Operations at UHS Hospitals. “The 4M framework, while focusing on older adults, fits nicely with our mission of providing patient-centered care.”

UHS Hospitals worked with the HANYS collaborative, and was the only organization in the region to earn the highest-level “committed to excellence” badge. Ms. Sherba and Ms. Schaffer attended nine months of weekly online meetings and education sessions, then regularly shared the learned best practices with each office’s practice ambassador, who disseminated information to providers and staff.

Ms. Sherba highlighted the importance of the entire team in making the 4M designation possible. “This starts with the front desk receptionists and moves through clerical and clinical staff, physicians, ambulatory pharmacists, data analytics experts and more,” she observed. “We could not have achieved this important designation in isolation.”

Frank Floyd, MD, an internist with UHS Primary Care Endwell, noted: “I appreciate my staff asking what matters to each patient–this provides me with immediate information about what the patient wants to accomplish and brings to light items the patient wants to discuss. And asking simple questions about mobility helps us to identify patients at risk of fall-related injuries.”

For more information about the 4M Age-Related excellence badge at UHS Hospitals, visit nyuhs.org/care-treatment/senior-care/uhs-age-friendly-health-system.