If you have seen something called “The 2026 AGS Beers Criteria,” it is not an American Geriatrics Society publication. There is no 2026 edition.
What is the latest version of the Beers Criteria?
The current edition is the 2023 update, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Before it, 2019. The Society publishes on a multi-year cycle and has not issued a 2026 edition.
What did appear in 2025 is a separate document: an Alternatives List, offering pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic substitutes for medications the criteria flag. It is a companion to the 2023 criteria, not a replacement for them, and citing it as a new edition is an error.
Why it matters more than a citation nitpick
Because these criteria get embedded in policies, order sets and audit tools, and a policy citing a version that does not exist cannot be traced back to anything. On a clinical page or in a facility protocol, the version and year are the load-bearing part of the citation.
The same caution applies to STOPP/START, where criteria counts from superseded versions circulate widely and get attached to the wrong version. Version 3 was published in 2023, and it has a published correction that should be cited alongside it.
How should the Beers Criteria be used?
Worth repeating whenever the list is quoted: the criteria “should be applied thoughtfully and in a manner that supports, rather than replaces, shared clinical decision-making.” They also explicitly exclude hospice and end-of-life care, an exclusion that is routinely ignored.
Read more: The AGS Beers Criteria · STOPP/START.
Frequently asked questions
What medications are included in the 2026 AGS Beers Criteria?
None, because there is no 2026 AGS Beers Criteria. The American Geriatrics Society has not published a 2026 edition. The current edition is the 2023 update in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. A document titled “The 2026 AGS Beers Criteria” is not a Society publication, and a policy that cites it cannot be traced back to anything.
Is there a 2025 Beers Criteria?
No new edition came out in 2025. What the American Geriatrics Society published in 2025 is a separate Alternatives List, which offers drug and non-drug substitutes for medications the criteria flag. It is a companion to the 2023 criteria, not a replacement for them, so citing it as a new edition is an error.
What are the limitations of the Beers Criteria?
The Society itself says the criteria should be applied thoughtfully and in a way that supports, rather than replaces, shared clinical decision-making. They also explicitly exclude hospice and end-of-life care, an exclusion that is routinely ignored when the list is quoted.
Why does the Beers Criteria version year matter?
Because the criteria get built into facility policies, order sets and audit tools. A policy that cites a version that does not exist cannot be traced back to anything. On a clinical page or in a facility protocol, the version and year carry the citation. The same caution applies to STOPP/START, whose version 3 was published in 2023 with a published correction.
References
- By the 2023 American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. American Geriatrics Society 2023 updated AGS Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2023;71(7):2052–2081. PMID 37139824 · DOI 10.1111/jgs.18372.
- By the 2025 AGS Alternative Treatments Panel. Alternative Treatments to Selected Medications in the 2023 American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2025;73(9):2657–2677. PMID 40697073 · DOI 10.1111/jgs.19500.
- O’Mahony D, Cherubini A, Guiteras AR, et al. STOPP/START criteria for potentially inappropriate prescribing in older people: version 3. European Geriatric Medicine. 2023;14(4):625–632. PMID 37256475 · DOI 10.1007/s41999-023-00777-y. See also the published correction, Eur Geriatr Med. 2023;14(4):633, PMID 37326916.
Bibliographic records in this note were retrieved from PubMed. Every reference links to its DOI or PubMed record.
Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP, founder and medical director of DWARAA. Last reviewed . This page is educational. DWARAA does not prescribe, deprescribe, diagnose or treat.