4Ms of Age-Friendly Care

Gero-STARR training will teach Scholars to care for older adults by applying the “lens” of the nationally recognized 4Ms framework of Age-Friendly Care.

The 4Ms — What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility — make care of older adults, which can be complex, more manageable. The 4Ms Framework for Age-Friendly Care is represented with four colored circles surrounding a gray center labeled "4Ms." Each circle represents one of the four essential elements of age-friendly care, emphasizing that all four work together to guide care for older adults.

What Matters

Know and align care with each older adult’s specific health outcome goals and care preferences including, but not limited to, end-of-life care, and across settings of care.

Medication

If medication is necessary, use Age-Friendly medication that does not interfere with What Matters to the older adult, Mobility, or Mentation across settings of care.

Mentation

Prevent, identify, treat, and manage dementia, depression, and delirium across settings of care.

Mobility

Ensure that older adults move safely every day in order to maintain function and do What Matters.

Age-Friendly Health Systems

The 4Ms of Age-Friendly Care 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).

Learn more about the 4Ms Framework for Age-Friendly Care on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) website.