AARP Hearing Center
About
When it comes to their health, older adults should have their voices heard. But all too often, conversations with health professionals – and even family members – can leave older adults feeling like their concerns were brushed aside. To better empower older patients, combat ageism in the health system, and ultimately improve care, AARP is working with health professionals to promote age-friendly health. At the heart of this effort are 4Ms:
· What Matters — ensuring care aligns with each patient’s goals and values
· Medication — optimizing treatment for safety and simplicity
· Mind — supporting brain health and emotional well-being
· Mobility — promoting independence and preventing avoidable harms
By focusing on the 4Ms, we can promote age-friendly health care that ensures older adults are treated with the respect, dignity, and attention they deserve.
Age-Friendly Health and My Health Checklist
Age-friendly health care is a direct and powerful way to confront ageism in the health system, shift our culture of care, and support older adults in their interactions with health professionals. To those ends, AARP collaborated with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Age-Friendly Health Systems team on the introduction of a new resource: My Health Checklist.
My Health Checklist uses the 4Ms framework to help older adults identify concerns that are most important to them – and prepares them to share those concerns in their medical appointments.
My Health Checklist can also serve as a valuable resource for health organizations. Recently, AARP and IHI led a Community of Practice composed of a dozen groups working to utilize My Health Checklist, and workshopped ways of introducing the resource to members of their teams, as well as to patients and their caregivers, where applicable. As a leader at one participating organization said, “My Health Checklist, for me, is just a wonderful tool to help individuals prepare for shared decision-making.” Another spoke about the importance of age-friendly health care, saying “It’s addressing the ageism, the implicit bias that may get in the way of us hearing older adults when they are trying to express their needs.”
Watch this video, a snapshot of insights from those who have implemented My Health Checklist.
Watch the videos below for additional perspectives from health professionals who have implemented the My Health Checklist.
How shared decision making leads to more meaningful care, featuring Kerri Maya, PhD(c), MSL, RN, NPD-BC
Engaging the community with the 4Ms, featuring Nicole J. Brandt, PharmD, MBA, BCGP, FASCP and Daniel Z. Mansour, PharmD, MS, AGSF, BCGP, FASCP
Resources for Introducing My Health Checklist
Older adults deserve care that reflects what matters most to them. To support that goal, IHI — with support from AARP and insights from hospitals and health systems across the country — created a set of tools that make it easier for individuals, families, and care teams to use My Health Checklist in everyday practice.
Tools for Individuals
- My Health Checklist: A guide to help you prepare for your medical appointment
Guidance, Stories, and Tools for Providers
These resources offer practical steps, real-world examples, and lessons from the field to help care teams introduce the checklist with confidence.
- How to Introduce My Health Checklist to Staff
- How to Introduce My Health Checklist to Older Adults
- My Health Checklist FAQ and Why This Matters
- How to Get Started with My Health Checklist Slides (includes a sample presentation that you can adapt)
Quick Introductions
Short, easy-to-use handouts for those who want a fast overview:
- Tips for Providers: Getting Started with My Health Checklist (brief handout)
- Tips for Individuals: Getting Started with My Health Checklist (brief handout)
Rural Community Health Workers Embrace My Health Checklist
In partnership with the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), IHI and AARP collaborated with community health workers (CHWs) and CHW trainers from rural areas nationwide. Their goal was simple: explore how My Health Checklist can strengthen conversations with older adults and support care that reflects each person’s priorities.
CHWs brought the guide into home visits, using it to spark meaningful discussions about what matters most. They shared it at community health fairs. Many even introduced it to their own parents.
Their involvement was essential. CHWs are trusted voices in rural communities, and as the number of older adults living in these areas grows, their role becomes even more important.
Hear from Rural CHWs
Watch the videos below to learn how CHWs are using My Health Checklist to meet older adults where they are:
A Rural Community Health Worker Trainer’s Perspective, featuring Janel Lowman
Rural Community Health Workers Connect with Older Adults Where They Are, featuring Royalyn Ramos
Stories from the Field
Communities across the country are finding creative ways to share My Health Checklist with older adults and the people who support them.
Ideas for Sharing My Health Checklist with Older Adults and Those Who Support Them