Dementia Care Aware partners with IHI to advance age-friendly care

Dementia Care Aware (DCA) is collaborating with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to support its March 2026 Action Community, a community learning experience that helps health systems across the country implement the 4Ms Framework of an Age-Friendly Health System. DCA is a national organization dedicated to improving dementia detection and care by providing health care teams the education, tools and support necessary to offer high-quality dementia care. This new collaboration advances DCA's and IHI's shared goals of ensuring older adults receive evidence-based care for dementia.

We're thrilled for this landmark opportunity to collaborate with IHI, a leader in accelerating quality of care, to improve dementia care for older adults. As America's aging population grows, adopting age-friendly frameworks across health systems is more important than ever, and we are proud to contribute our expertise in dementia care and brain health to help make this a reality."

Dr. Anna Chodos, executive director of DCA

IHI's Action Community connects organizations with expert faculty and peers to test and adopt the 4Ms Framework of an Age-Friendly Health System - a proven approach to improving outcomes for older adults by focusing on four key areas:

• What matters: Know and align care with every person's specific health goals and preferences across settings of care.
• Medication: If medication is necessary, use age-friendly medication that does not interfere with What Matters, Mentation or Mobility.
• Mentation: Prevent, identify, treat and manage dementia, depression and delirium.
• Mobility: Ensure older adults move safely every day to maintain function and do What Matters

"As we prepare to launch our Action Community this year, Dementia Care Aware is essential to expanding the reach and impact of Age-Friendly Health Systems," said Camille Burnett, PhD, MPA, RN, Vice President of Health Equity, IHI. "DCA brings invaluable knowledge and experience in evidence-based dementia care, helping Action Community participants integrate best practices that will elevate care for older adults nationwide."