On June 6, 2023, Global Coalition on Aging Alliance for Health Innovation and Georgetown University convened a roundtable in Washington, D.C. on innovation and equity for healthy aging. During this roundtable, policymakers, experts, and patient advocates gathered to address innovation and its impact on health equity and healthy aging. This policy brief provides insights from the roundtable, including four policy principles that can guide future policy developments and highlight steps that policymakers can take to ensure everyone can access the innovations that allow people to live longer and healthier than ever:

1. Individuals should be at the center of our thinking when discussing healthcare innovations. We need to engage with individual patients in their communities to ensure they can access the healthcare services and support they need.
2. Medical innovation must be sufficiently valued and incentivized.
3. Medical innovation must be accompanied by process innovation across the healthcare ecosystem.
4. Better awareness is needed on the return on investment of innovation and the benefits of distributing funding for healthcare services to the communities and support programs where it’s most beneficial.

The Global Coalition on Aging Alliance for Health Innovation brings together over 20 patient advocacy organizations, scientists, and policy specialists to establish awareness of the importance of innovation in achieving healthy aging through investments, policy reforms, and strategic partnerships – both for the value to patients and for health system sustainability.