American College of Rheumatology Awarded Grant to Advance Age-Friendly Care in Rheumatology Practices

ATLANTA – The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has been awarded a grant from the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation, to lead a national initiative that will incorporate age-friendly care principles into rheumatology practice. This project, Incorporating Age-Friendly Approaches into Rheumatology Care, will adapt and implement the evidence-based “4Ms Framework” (What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility) to improve quality of care for older adults living with rheumatic diseases.

Nearly half of patients captured in ACR’s Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) registry are 65 years or older, and the mean patient age is 62 years. These data underscore that older adults represent the core of rheumatology practice — yet current clinical guidelines and workflows often do not fully address the unique needs of this population.

“As the population ages, rheumatologists are increasingly caring for patients with complex health needs that extend beyond existing disease activity measures and treatment guidelines,” said William F. Harvey, MD, MSc, FACR, president of the ACR, Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Tufts Medicine, and Co-Director of the Informatics Program at the Tufts Clinical and Translational Science. “Through this initiative, the ACR aims to equip rheumatology teams with practical tools and workflows that align treatment with patient priorities, enhance medication safety, and support mobility and cognitive health across all practice settings.”

To address these gaps, the ACR will work with seven diverse ambulatory rheumatology practices and four work group consultants with expertise in aging in rheumatology, across the country over the course of 18 months. Together, they will co-develop, test, and refine specialty-specific age-friendly workflows. The working group includes:

• Meika Fang, MD. Professor at UCLA’s Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA), Medical Director of VA Home-Based Primary Care Program and former Medical Director of the Palliative Treatment Program.
• Una E. Makris, MD, Professor at UCSD/San Diego’s Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) with more than 15 years of experience in enhancing visibility of aging principles in rheumatology.
• Justin Levinson, MD, Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin, dual board-certified in geriatrics and rheumatology and Director of UW-Madison Geri-Rheumatology clinic.
• Sarah B. Lieber, MD, Attending Physician at Hospital for Special Surgery/Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Participating sites will integrate patient goal tools, medication safety checklists, cognitive and mood screening pathways, and mobility assessments into their routine care. Findings from these pilot sites will inform the creation of a Rheumatology Age-Friendly Care Implementation Guide, a comprehensive resource that will support adaptation, adoption, and scaling across rheumatology practices nationwide.

The project's objectives include:

• Developing a rheumatology-specific Implementation Guide and electronic health record (EHR)-integrated workflows supporting the 4Ms Framework.
• Partnering with practices to test implementation strategies through quality improvement measurement methods.
• Evaluating adherence and outcomes using practice-level data, including data aggregated through the RISE registry.
• Broadly disseminating the Implementation Guide to ACR members and other physician and nurse specialty society organizations.

“This initiative allows the ACR to build on its longstanding commitment to advancing quality care through evidence-based practice and innovation,” said principal investigator, Jiha Lee, MD, MHS, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. “By adapting the 4Ms Framework for rheumatology, we can better support functional independence, mental well-being, and goal-centered care for older adults with chronic rheumatic conditions.”

This project aligns with CMSS’s mission to support specialty societies in strengthening patient-centered care across medical disciplines. The resulting framework will offer a scalable model that supports reliability, quality, and equity in the treatment of older adults with complex rheumatologic illness.

See more information about the ACR's quality and practice improvement initiatives >

Media Contact
Teri Arnold
Director, Public Relations & Communications
757-272-7002
tarnold@rheumatology.org

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About the American College of Rheumatology
Founded in 1934, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) is a not-for-profit, professional association committed to advancing the specialty of rheumatology that serves nearly 10,500 physicians, health professionals, researchers and scientists worldwide. In doing so, the ACR offers education, research, advocacy and practice management support to help its members continue their innovative work and provide quality patient care. Rheumatology professionals are experts in the diagnosis, management and treatment of more than 100 different types of arthritis and rheumatic diseases.

About CMSS
The Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) is a coalition of more than 50 specialty societies representing nearly 1 million physicians across the house of medicine. CMSS advances the expertise and collective voice of specialty societies and the patients they serve to drive meaningful changes in the future of healthcare.

Funding Acknowledgements
The Expanding Age-Friendly Approaches to Specialty Ambulatory Care project is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation through a grant of $1,500,000 to the Council of Medical Specialty Societies. The John A. Hartford Foundation, based in New York City, is a private, nonpartisan, national philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. The leader in the field of aging and health, the foundation has three areas of emphasis: creating age-friendly health systems, supporting family caregivers, and improving serious illness and end-of-life care.