Alternative Treatments to Selected Medications in the 2023 American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria®

About the AGS Beers Criteria®and Alternatives 

For more than 20 years, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Beers Criteria® for Potentially Inappropriate Medication have been a valuable resource for healthcare providers about the safety of prescribing drugs for older people. 

The AGS recently released a list of possible alternative treatments for some of these drugs that appear in the AGS Beers Criteria®. Some of these alternatives are listed below.
 

Key Points

  • Never stop taking a medication without first talking to your healthcare provider, even if the medication you’re taking is listed on the AGS Beers Criteria®.
  • Know about the medications you are taking. Ask your clinician or pharmacist about the medications you are taking and their potential side effects. If you’re experiencing any symptoms, ask if they could be related to a medication you are taking or if it may be a sign of another problem. Use only trusted, reliable sources (such as MedlinePlus) to look up information.
  • Review your medications regularly. You should regularly review all of the medications you are taking with your clinicians and pharmacists. You should report any problems with your medications, including any side effects, questions you may have about them, or any problems with taking them as prescribed (such as cost). These reviews should occur at least once a year as well as any time a new medication is prescribed.

REMEMBER: Potentially inappropriate medications are just that — potentially inappropriate. The AGS Beers Criteria® and the list of alternatives are resources, not a replacement, for the expertise and knowledge of your healthcare provider. The AGS Health in Aging Foundation has developed this resource to help you talk to your healthcare provider about these possible alternatives to the AGS Beers Criteria® medications you’re taking.

To access the complete AGS Beers Criteria® and its related resources, please visit GeriatricsCareOnline.org.

To see the full table of alternatives, see Learn More: Alternatives for Medications Listed in the AGS Beers Criteria® for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults.

This summary is from the full report titled Alternative Treatments to Selected Medications in the 2023 American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria® published in the Journal of The American Geriatrics Society.
 

Last Updated September 2025

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