Caring for older adults with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) is challenging. The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) previously developed The AGS Guiding Principles for the Care of Older Adults With Multimorbidity using a systematic review of the literature and consensus. The objective of the current work was to translate these principles into a framework of Actions and accompanying Action Steps for decision making for clinicians who provide both primary and specialty care to older people with MCCs. A work group of geriatricians, cardiologists, and generalists: (1) articulated the core MCC Actions and the Action Steps needed to carry out the Actions; (2) provided decisional tips and communication scripts for implementing the Actions and Action Steps, using commonly encountered situations: (3) performed a scoping review to identify evidence‐based, validated tools for carrying out the MCC Actions and Action Steps; and (4) identified potential barriers to, and mitigating factors for, implementing the MCC Actions. The recommended MCC Actions include: (1) identify and communicate patients' health priorities and health trajectory; (2) stop, start, or continue care based on health priorities, potential benefit vs harm and burden, and health trajectory; and (3) align decisions and care among patients, caregivers, and other clinicians with patients' health priorities and health trajectory. The tips and scripts for carrying out these Actions are included in the full MCC Action Framework available in the supplement (http://www.geriatricscareonline.org). J Am Geriatr Soc 67:665–673, 2019.

Patients with dementia experience high rates of polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medication use, and adverse drug events. There is little guidance for clinicians on how to optimize prescribing for this population. Our objective was to investigate clinician-perceived barriers to and facilitators of optimizing prescribing for people with dementia. Methods: Qualitative study involving semistructured interviews of primary care and specialist clinicians in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Interviews were conducted with 12 primary care and 9 specialist clinicians, with a mean (SD) age of 47 (9) and mean (SD) of 14 (10) years in practice. Clinicians cited decisions regarding the following drug classes as particularly challenging: oral anticoagulants, antidiabetic agents, statins, bladder antimuscarinics, and antipsychotics. Perceived enablers of optimizing prescribing included access to interdisciplinary services and guidelines for nondementia illnesses (eg, diabetes) addressing the care of people with dementia. Barriers included the lack of data on efficacy and safety of most medications in people with dementia, difficulty assessing medication effects in an individual patient, and the perception that stopping medications is seen as "giving up." Clinicians used a variety of strategies to discuss risks and benefits of medications with patients and caregivers. Conclusions: Clinicians identified numerous barriers to and some facilitators of optimizing prescribing in people with dementia. More data are needed on the benefits and harms of stopping medications in this population. Research should also test different approaches for supporting informed decision making about medications by people with dementia and caregivers.