TFAH Publishes Report on Creating an Age-Friendly Public Health System

With support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) released a report titled, “Creating an Age-Friendly Public Health System: Challenges, Opportunities, and Next Steps.”

The report examines the role of public health in contributing to an age-friendly society and improving the health and well-being of older Americans. A public health framework to guide activities, interventions, and strategies is included in the report. The framework is centered on five key potential roles for public health:

• Connecting and convening multiple sectors and professions that provide supports, services, and infrastructure to promote healthy aging
• Coordinating existing supports and services to avoid duplication of efforts, identify gaps, and increase access to services and supports
• Collecting data to assess community health status (including inequities) and aging population needs to inform the development of interventions
• Conducting, communicating, and disseminating research findings and best practices to support healthy aging
• Complementing and supplementing existing supports and services, particularly in terms of integrating clinical and population health approaches

The report points to the rapidly changing U.S. demographics in which individuals are living longer, but with complex chronic disease and other health-related needs, and the unique role and services public health offers to address such challenges. The full TFAH report is available here.