Geriatric Medicine
The UVA Section of Geriatrics operates four well-established community-based practices in the Charlottesville area, with an impact in surrounding counties: University Physicians at JABA, Westminster Canterbury of the Blue Ridge, Colonnades Medical Associates, and Virginia at Home, which is a home-based primary care program.
Geriatric medicine focuses on achieving the highest possible level of physical and functional well-being for older adults, as well as on preventing disability and disease and promoting independence as aging occurs. Geriatric physicians and nurse practitioners excel at caring for all adults over the age of 65, especially in care for older adults living with multiple medical concerns and functional and cognitive impairments.
Geriatric Medicine Section Head: Justin Mutter, MD, MSc
Justin Mutter, MD
Dr. Justin Mutter joined the faculty in the Section of Geriatrics in 2017 and has served as Section Head for the last three years. He completed his medical education at the UVA School of Medicine and residency training in Family Medicine at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in North Carolina. He then returned to UVA for his fellowship training in geriatric medicine. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Family Medicine.
Dr. Mutter is a primary care and consultative geriatrician with expertise in dementia and other memory disorders, polypharmacy and complex medication management, and frailty. He is the founder and medical director of Virginia at Home (VaH), UVA’s home-based primary care program for older adults with complex medical concerns who have significant difficulty leaving their homes to get to the clinic. Previously, Dr. Mutter was part of the core faculty of the UVA Memory and Aging Care Clinic and UVA Physicians at JABA and was also the medical director of Continuum Home Health Care.
In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Mutter is active in undergraduate and graduate medical education, serving as the Director of Health Humanities Programs for the UVA Center for Health Humanities and Ethics. Among other grants, he received a Geriatric Academic Career Award from the Health Resources and Services Administration, focusing on interprofessional geriatric education in medicine, nursing, and pharmacy.
Geriatrician and patient
What is Geriatrics?
Geriatrics medicine focuses on achieving the highest possible level of physical and functional well-being for older adults, as well as on preventing disability and disease and promoting independence as aging occurs.
What is the Role of a Geriatrician?
A geriatrician is a primary care physician with advanced training in the health issues of adults 65 and older.
Why Seek a Provider Trained in Geriatrics?
To maximize health and productivity and for expert care on issues affecting older adults, including:
- Changes in physical abilities or mental status, such as memory
- Susceptibility to falls or falling and strategies to prevent them
- Effective management of multiple medical problems and/or multiple medications
- Relieving the burden on family members who a
- re caregivers
Services Offered By UVA Geriatricians:
- Geriatric assessment
- Neurocognitive assessment
- Pain management and rehabilitative evaluation and treatment
- Comprehensive primary healthcare
University Physicians at JABA is an outpatient practice that partners with JABA (Jefferson Area Board for Aging), a Charlottesville-based agency that provides services to the region’s large population of retirees and elderly.
Under the leadership of medical director Karen Starr, MD, an Assistant Professor of Medicine, the practice has grown rapidly in the last several years. Clinicians are available five days a week and offer primary geriatric care, geriatric consultation, and a frailty-focused clinic.
Person-Centered Care for Homebound Older Adults
Virginia at Home (VaH) is UVA’s first home-based primary care program for older adults. The program is designed to bring primary care services into patients’ homes, using house calls from an interprofessional team inclusive of a nurse practitioner, physician, nurse coordinator, and clinical pharmacist. VaH’s goal is to serve older patients and their caregivers in Charlottesville and its surrounding counties, providing high-quality care in the home for those who have significant difficulty getting out for clinic visits.
The program is a partnership between UVA’s Section of Geriatrics, the Department of Population Health, the Memory and Aging Care Clinic, and the Center for Health Humanities and Ethics. Those eligible for Virginia at Home must be “homebound” by Medicare criteria, which states that homebound patients cannot leave their homes without significant assistance from another person.
Thomas Bradley Murray, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, serves as medical director and primary geriatrician at Westminster Canterbury of the Blue Ridge, a retirement community of about 400 residents aged 65 years and older.
WCBR provides a range of living and care options, including independent living, assisted living, advanced dementia care, skilled nursing, and long-term nursing home care. With two nurse practitioners, the practice at WCBR now operates full-time, five days per week, and has expanded over the last several years by about 40 percent.