» Our Principles

The unprecedented aging of our population and staggering increases in chronic age-related diseases and disabilities have the potential to bankrupt our nation, cripple large employers, and overburden our healthcare system beyond repair. In order to best serve a variety of stakeholders in the conventional and digital healthcare, biomedical research, rejuvenative and emergent technologies, pharmaceutical, investment, and public policy communities, our work in Washington and around the world is guided by a series of core, defining principles:

Recognition of the Underlying Causes of Aging-Related Disease as Treatable and Preventable Medical Conditions

• Enable the existing legal framework to better tackle diseases and conditions that arise from the aging process from a preventative healthcare model, as well as the systemic factors that contribute to disease, frailty, and senility.
• Open up new public funding for new pharmaceutical and medical technological research and development.
• Promote the streamlined development and marketing of new and existing preventative medications and treatments in our parents’ – and grandparents’ – lifetimes.

Educate the Public and Policy-Makers On the Economic Cost of Ignoring Healthcare and Quality of Life Burdens Caused by “Degenerative Aging”

• Share the facts about the current economic burden and critical damage to quality of life felt in the U.S. and around the world due to a lack of prioritized preventative care and treatment strategies for aging-related disease.

• Encourage preventative care models and approaches that can ensure the aging population can remain financially independent and income-generating – a key component of mental and physical well-being in the elderly.

• Educate about the rising costs of healthcare and growing size of the aging population, which threatens to devastate the global economy in the coming decades.

Align with the WHO’s Definition of Health and the “Triple Aim”

• Work with our coalition stakeholders to promote alignment with the WHO’s principle definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
• Work with stakeholders towards realizing the goals of the Triple Aim:
  • improving the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction);
  • improving the health of populations;
  • reducing the per-capita cost of health care.

Support payment reforms that reward care delivery innovations.

• Align payment incentives with care delivery innovations that encourage patient-centered, team-based care.
• Increase support for payment innovations and evaluation projects, and identify success factors and best practices to disseminate broadly.
• Provide incentives for states that encourage payment and care delivery reforms through Medicaid programs, health insurance exchanges, Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), and other regional or community initiatives.
• Reform the Medicare fee-for-service system by supporting payment and care delivery models that support patient-centered medical homes and management of high-cost, complex populations in the medical neighborhood.

Support care delivery innovations that strengthen the primary care infrastructure and workforce.

• Continue support for the adoption of meaningful use (MU) electronic health record standards, and health information exchange (HIE).
• Support the transition to non-face-to-face patient visits and reward providers appropriately for adopting the health information technology (HIT) necessary to support the transition.

Design employee health benefits that promote wellness and preventative care.

• Support employer adoption of value-driven payment models.
• Support technical assistance and knowledge sharing among large and small employers to identify successful benefit design models that promote employee and family health, wellness, and engagement.
• Reward employers for developing employee wellness and prevention programs.

Engage and educate patients, families, and caregivers in choosing better health care services.

• Support the enhanced role of patients and families as active partners in managing their health and choosing high-quality care, by providing access to shared decision making, self-management tools, patient health data, and community resources.
• Provide incentives (e.g., shared savings and financial rewards) for consumers and beneficiaries that choose high quality, preventative care-based practices.
• Provide support for patient and family-centered research that identifies evidence-based practices to enhance patient and family experience, health system navigation, shared decision-making, and communication.