The American College of Surgeons (ACS), with the John A. Hartford Foundation in New York City, will conduct a four-year initiative that it says will lead to improved care of older surgical patients through a standards and verification program for hospitals.
The leaders for this initiative are Clifford Y. Ko, MD, FACS, director of the ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care, and Ronnie Rosenthal, MD, FACS, chair of the ACS Geriatric Surgery Task Force and chief of surgery at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven. The grant amount awarded by the Foundation for the program is $2.9 million.
One of the forces behind this initiative is America’s expanding geriatric population. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that more people were 65 years and older in 2010 than in any previous census. Moreover, the largest percentage point increase for the “oldest-old population” (starting at age 85) over the previous two decades was concentrated in the 90- to 94-year-old age group, which increased from 25% of the oldest-old group in 1990 to 26.2% in 2000 and 26.4% in 2010.1
“More than ever, 80-, 90-, and even 100-year-olds are undergoing surgery, and that trend will only grow,” said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, president of the John A. Hartford Foundation. “This important partnership between the John A. Hartford Foundation and the American College of Surgeons to develop standards, and then verify that hospitals can deliver optimal geriatric surgical care, will save lives, improve outcomes, and reduce harm for older adults across the country.”
Quality geriatric surgical care is an area of prime consideration to the ACS, the organization states. ACS published guidelines with the American Geriatrics Society in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons for the perioperative care of elderly patients.2
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U.S. Census Bureau Statistical Brief. The Older Population: 2010. Available at https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-09.pdf.
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Chow WB, Rosenthal RA, Merkow RP, et al. Optimal preoperative assessment of the geriatric surgical patient: A best practices guideline from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and the American Geriatrics Society. J Am Coll Surg. 2012; 215(4):453-466.
