Baylor St. Luke’s Geriatrics Program Recognized as an Age-Friendly Health System Participant

HOUSTON (April 19, 2021) – The Senior Care Clinic at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center (Baylor St. Luke’s) at Kirby Glen has been recognized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) as an Age-Friendly Health​ ​System Participant. Age-Friendly Health Systems aim to follow an essential set of evidence-based practices and align care with each older adult’s specific health outcome goals and care preferences.

​​Baylor St. Luke’s Senior Care Clinic earned designation in the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement for formally committing toward reliable practice of evidence-based interventions for all older adults and successfully developing plans to implement the IHI’s 4Ms Framework: What Matters, Medications, Mentation, Mobility. 

The specialized team at Baylor St. Luke’s Senior Care Clinic evaluates the whole person, focusing on the functional status and their quality of life. Baylor St. Luke’s Senior Care Clinic’s multidisciplinary approach allows patients and their families to access resources and support from on-site social workers, nutritionists, nurses, mid-level practitioners, and physicians to fulfill every need of older patients – all under one roof.

“We are proud that our comprehensive geriatrics program has been recognized as an Age-Friendly Health System Participant for our commitment to enhanced care for older adults,” said Dr. Aanand D. Naik, geriatrician at Baylor St. Luke’s and Robert J. Luchi, M.D. Chair in Geriatric Medicine and professor and section chief of medicine-geriatrics and palliative medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “The health and quality of life of older adults can only be achieved through a collaborative approach that puts patients’ physical and mental health first and focuses on the whole person and their needs.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population aged 65 and older is expected to nearly double over the next 30 years, from 43.1 million in 2012 to an estimated 83.7 million in 2050. These demographic advances, however extraordinary, have left our health systems behind as they struggle to reliably provide evidence-based practice to every older adult at every care interaction.

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 (AHA) and the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), designed Age-Friendly Health Systems to meet this challenge head on. The goal of the initiative is to rapidly spread the 4Ms Framework to 20 percent of U.S. hospitals and medical practices by 2020.

To learn more about Baylor St. Luke’s Geriatric Services, visit bsloutcomes.com/geriatrics. For more information on who is eligible for recognition, timelines for submission to notification, ​and more, visit IHI’s Frequently Asked Questions.

About Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center

Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center is an 881-bed quaternary care academic medical center that is a joint venture between Baylor College of Medicine and St. Luke’s Health. Located in the Texas Medical Center, the hospital is the home of the Texas Heart® Institute, a cardiovascular research and education institution founded in 1962 by Denton A. Cooley, MD. The hospital was the first facility in Texas and the Southwest designated a Magnet® hospital for Nursing Excellence by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, receiving the award five consecutive times. Baylor St. Luke’s also has two community emergency centers offering adult and pediatric care for the Greater Houston area.

About St. Luke’s Health – Texas Division

St. Luke’s Health is a fully-integrated network that provides care to the communities in Greater Houston, East Texas, and the Brazos Valley through 16 acute care hospitals and over 270 access points including numerous urgent care centers, freestanding emergency departments, and clinics conveniently located across the region. With a team of 11,000 employees and caregivers and more than 5,000 physicians, St. Luke’s Health is dedicated to a mission of enhancing community health as the high value provider through high-quality, cost-effective care. A joint venture with Baylor College of Medicine, St. Luke’s Health operates Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in the Texas Medical Center, a leading academic health center with quaternary care and advanced specialists. St. Luke’s Health is part of CommonSpirit Health, a nonprofit, Catholic health system dedicated to advancing health for all people. Learn more at StLukesHealth.org.