Changing demographics in the US over the next several decades will present new opportunities to rethink how even basic healthcare is administered. By 2030, more than 20% of the population will consist of older adults, compared to 13% in 2010. Life expectancy for 65-year-olds is expected to increase by approximately 3 years between now and 2050 (US Census Bureau 2014). We seek to understand the unique healthcare needs of this aging population and to innovate with these needs in mind. One current project in this area is employing ethnographic methods to investigate best practices across several senior-specific emergency rooms nationwide. Senior emergency rooms are becoming increasingly common, and furnish the opportunity to integrate traditional emergency medicine with home-based healthcare, social outreach, and other programs that target the whole person. This project exemplifies our larger vision in which healthcare innovations evolve toward supporting healthful aging in addition to treating illness.