UC San Diego Health Part of National Initiative to Improve Senior Care

University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) Health is the first healthcare system in San Diego to participate in the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, and has been recognized as Committed to Care Excellence by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). This citation notes UC San Diego Health's deployment of evidence-based interventions to improve care for seniors. IHI aims to designate 20 percent of U.S. hospitals and health systems as age-friendly by next year. "We look forward to both sharing our best practices and learning what's working at other healthcare systems," said UC San Diego Health's Alison Moore. "Through raising awareness, education, and collaborations, we can make a profound shift in how we define the future of care for a large and incredibly valuable portion of our society." The evidence-based interventions promote four practices, which include: knowing and aligning care with individual seniors' health outcome goals and care preferences across all care settings; prescribing appropriate medications in doses that do not disrupt quality of life; preventing, identifying, treating, and managing dementia, depression, and delirium; and ensuring seniors can move safely every day to maintain healthy functions and prevent injury. Age-Friendly Health Systems use evidence-based protocols like physical exercises and daily cognitive stimulation to stave off decline and may shorten the length of hospitalization.