July 9, 2026
You Need an Age-Friendly Pharmacist
By Barbara Zarowitz, PharmD, MSW, FPALTC; Brandi Apple, PharmD, BCGP; Lori Newcomb, BS Pharm, RPh, BCGP; and Rachel Busch, PharmD, BCGP
As we age, our priorities can change in response to comorbidities, family situation, and functional and cognitive capability. Healthcare providers benefit from assessing these priorities and aligning evidence-based care planning with what is most important to residents. There are several national and global initiatives focused on bringing age-friendly care to older adults.
Why should long-term care facilities request pharmacy services from an Age-Friendly Pharmacy and Age-Friendly pharmacists?
- Age-Friendly pharmacies have service capabilities to care for older adults with medically complex conditions, multiple medications, and special medication needs, like alternate formulations, compounded intravenous and topical medications, 24/7 emergency pharmacy availability, and comprehensive medication management by Age-Friendly or board-certified geriatric pharmacists.1
- Recognition identifies pharmacies that provide high-quality care for older adults across all care settings and levels of medical complexity
- Age-Friendly pharmacies operate within standards for the 4Ms, screening and acting on medication, mobility, mentation, social determinants of health, and nutrition
- They are poised to reduce medication costs by actively working with clinicians to deprescribe unnecessary medications.2
- Their focus is on enhancing quality performance by reducing falls, rehospitalization, and antipsychotic use.2,3
- Age-Friendly Pharmacy recognition helps the public and payers to immediately recognize your facility’s commitment to helping older adults through a patient-centered, evidence-based approach.3,4
- Nursing homes have reported increased patient/resident satisfaction.
Leveraging Pharmacists to Implement Age-Friendly Care
The University of Maryland, Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging (UMB), in conjunction with the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), through a grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation, has leveraged pharmacists to advance age-friendly care in nursing homes, health systems, outpatient clinics, and other sites of care for older adults. The goals of the program are to recognize 2500 Age-Friendly Pharmacists and 80 Age-Friendly pharmacies by the end of 2026. An interprofessional national advisory board was formed to oversee the development of marketing, education, branding, age-friendly pharmacy criteria, and deployment of regional champions to encourage rapid diffusion of age-friendly principles across care settings.5
Age-Friendly Pharmacist Badge Program
Following a needs assessment survey,6 educational modules were developed that together constitute requirements for becoming an Age-Friendly Pharmacist. The program offers free lectures and case-based application learning modules conducted by interprofessional care teams to increase knowledge and skills for providing 4Ms care for older adults.
Age-Friendly Pharmacy Recognition
Starting on January 27, 2026, the initiative was expanded to recognize Age-Friendly Pharmacies. Attestation criteria outline services for provision and subsequent reimbursement of LTC Pharmacy @ Home care, which include availability of 24/7 pharmacy services, alternate medication formulations, delivery of medications, medication management, specialized packaging, compounded medications (e.g., intravenous, topical), and emergency medication services.7 Additionally, pharmacies must have procedures in place to assess/screen and act on patient cognitive, functional, and nutritional status as well as social vulnerability. More than 50% of pharmacists must have attained an Age-Friendly recognition or be a board-certified geriatric pharmacist (BCGP).
These initiatives and partnerships are critical, given that the United States' population aged 65+ 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 have left our health systems behind as they struggle to reliably provide evidence-based care to older adults at every care interaction. Within the United States, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), working with The John A. Hartford Foundation, the American Hospital Association (AHA), and the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), designed the Age-Friendly Health System initiative to meet this challenge. Age-Friendly Health Systems aim to:
- Follow an essential set of evidence-based practices
- Cause no harm
- Align with what matters to the older adult and their family caregivers
The initiative is built around four domains of health – What Matters most to the older adult, Medication, Mobility, and Mentation, referred to as the 4Ms.
Age-Friendly Health System Recognition
IHI recognizes clinical care settings that are working toward reliable practice of evidence-based interventions for all older adults in their 4Ms care. As of April 2026, over 5,900 health care organizations (including over 1,000 nursing homes) have earned either level 1 (participant) or level 2 (committed to care excellence) recognition in the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement. IHI recognizes hospitals, health systems, nursing homes, ambulatory care clinics, surgical centers, convenient care clinics, home health, and geriatric emergency departments.
Age-Friendly Hospital Quality Measure
In 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) started requiring inpatient hospitals to report their performance on the Age-Friendly care quality measure.8
Get more information about age-friendly health systems.
References
1. American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. Age-Friendly Pharmacy. https://www.ascp.com/page/agefriendlypharmacy
2. King SE, Ruopp MD, Mac CT, et al. Early clinical and quality impacts of the age-friendly health system in a Veterans Affairs skilled nursing facility. J Am Geriatr Soc 2024;72:3865-3874. DOI: 10.1111/jgs.19083
3. Drago K, De Lima B, Rasmussen S, Ena A, Eckstrom E, Bowman E. Effect of Age-Friendly Care on Days at Home Post-Hospital Discharge for Traditional Medicare Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study. Inquiry. 2025 Jan-Dec;62:469580251324408. doi: 10.1177/00469580251324408.
4. Drago K, De Lima B. Association of Age-Friendly hospital care and patient outcomes for older adults. The Joint Commission J Qual Patient Safety. 2025;51(11):695-700.
5. Zarowitz B, Little M, Vaughan W, Cooke C, Brandt N. Leveraging pharmacists using RE_AIM framework to implement age-friendly nursing home care. JAMDA 2026;27:106206 https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1n0uG5QyCqRd14
6. Fu YH, Wu J, Zarowitz B, Thomas AL, Zajac D, Valeriann CR, et al. Awareness and implementation of the 4Ms Age-Friendly framework: A needs assessment survey. J Am Geriatr Soc 2025;0:1-7. doi: 10.1111/jgs.70070
7. The Alliance for Long Term Care Pharmacy@Home. Empowering independent pharmacies to lead in long-term care home. pharmacyathome.org
8. Adler-Milstein J, Rosenthal SW, Thombley R, Rogers S, Rosner B, Yeh J, Harrison JD. From 4Ms to 5 domains: ensuring new CMS Age-Friendly hospital measure improves care for older adults. Health Aff Sch. 2025;3(10):qxaf184. doi: 10.1093/haschl/qxaf184.
Barbara J. Zarowitz is editor-in-chief of Caring for the Ages. Brandi Apple is a consultant pharmacist for Guardian Pharmacy. Lori Newcomb is a consultant pharmacist for Guardian Pharmacy. Rachel Busch is vice president, consulting and external pharmacy services for In-Touch Pharmaceuticals, Inc.