We are identifying best practices in senior emergency care, building the evidence for geriatric emergency care protocols, connecting clinical and social resources to provide home and community-based care and addressing the training needs of a multidisciplinary workforce to ensure seniors across the country get the care they need when they are in the emergency department.

We are expanding our research portfolio to build evidence in support of a new vision for unplanned acute care, which fundamentally drives the majority of healthcare costs for our nation’s vulnerable seniors. We envision more proactive, opportunistic care that is delivered in place, whenever possible.

Working with our collaborators at The John A. Hartford Foundation and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), we are working to increase the number of senior-friendly EDs through ACEP’s national accreditation program for geriatric emergency departments (GEDs).

There are now more than 100 GEDs around the United States boasting ACEP accreditation, which was developed with financial support and foundational work from the West Health Institute and The John A. Hartford Foundation to achieve the goal of providing quality care for older adult patients.

We recently announced a collaboration between regional healthcare systems, West Health and County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Dianne Jacob to have a majority of San Diego’s emergency departments accredited as senior-friendly by 2021.

Healthcare leaders representing Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente San Diego, Palomar Health, Paradise Valley Hospital, Scripps Health, Sharp HealthCare, Tri-City Medical Center, UC San Diego Health and VA San Diego Healthcare System signed a pledge to join the San Diego Senior Emergency Care Initiative, a first-of-its-kind public-private commitment by local health systems—funded with $700,000 in grants and support from the County of San Diego and nonprofit West Health—to be the first in the nation to offer accredited senior-friendly emergency care for older adults across the county.

Interested in making your emergency department senior friendly? West Health created the free “Practical Guide to Implementing a Geriatric Emergency Department,” with UC San Diego Health to serve as a blueprint for other health systems to follow.

West Health will continue to be an advocate for senior-friendly emergency care across the region, leading the nation in our efforts to improve care and lower costs for seniors everywhere