USA - Health officials praise Bush administration for national nursing home quality initiative that is yielding postive results in quality care
USA - Health officials praise Bush administration for national nursing home quality initiative that is yielding postive results in quality care
Keywords: Quality improvement, Nursing homes, United States of America
Citing promising new data reported today by the Bush administration on its national Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI), the President and CEO of the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and the chairman of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (the Alliance) stated that the two-year results are“bold proof” that quality improvement initiatives by nursing home providers and partnership programs with government are resulting in positive quality improvement trends throughout the sector.
The data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) indicate an overall reduction in the number of nursing home patients experiencing pain and a decrease in physical restraints, underscoring long-term care providers’ ongoing commitment to instituting quality practices designed to improve care in these important areas.
“The Nursing Home Quality Initiative is clearly doing what it set out to do two years ago,” said Hal Daub, President of AHCA. “The launch of NHQI by the Administration, CMS and HHS is giving momentum and support to the movement within long term care to increase quality care, despite the challenging environment. Furthermore, it is effectively and reliably measuring the results of new and innovative care practices that can ultimately have a positive impact on the quality of a nursing facility resident’s daily life.”
Stephen Guillard, Chairman of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care and CEO of Harborside Healthcare, a national skilled nursing facility company based in Boston, stated: “Two critical actions have contributed to improvements in quality: first, is the creation of the Nursing Home Quality initiative, and the Bush administration working with providers so that they are part of the solution. And second, the administration helped restore critical funding last year that has brought some stability to the sector following billions of dollars in cuts in recent years, allowing providers to invest these resources toward making NHQI work.”
While today’s data showed improvement in several clinical outcomes, the percentage of patients with pressure ulcers remains unchanged. Both groups maintain that continued focus and collaboration is needed to promote pressure ulcer improvement, but also noted that there has been some progress made on preventing pressure ulcers in targeted facilities and among sicker patients, who are more likely to develop pressure ulcers because of their conditions.
“Long term care providers are continuing to address some of the core issues in caring for our frail elderly, and the area of pressure ulcers remains a key focus in our efforts,” continued Daub. “These areas of care present challenges, because many of these types of conditions are prevalent among frail and immobile patient populations, but we are meeting them head on,”he said.
Following announcement of NHQI in 2001, the long-term care profession launched its own profession-wide quality initiative, Quality First. This voluntary provider-driven quality initiative takes NHQI one step further through the development of quality programs in facilities throughout the nation. The Alliance also signed a “Code of Conduct and Ethical Management Practices”,which has been adhered to by coalition members. Furthermore, with high standards and strategic goals, hundreds of skilled nursing facilities have tailored their own quality improvement measures to patient acuity and staffing composition.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates that a partnership with government can be effective,” added Guillard. “While government and providers each have their own roles and responsibilities in long-term care, we can both agree on one objective – to ensure that our frail, elderly and disabled patients and residents receive the best quality care. Quality is our mission in the long term care community and NHQI, along with our own intensive programs instituted in facilities across the country, are constantly improving the way we bring quality, compassionate care to our seniors”.
The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and the National Center For Assisted Living (NCAL) are committed to quality and performance excellence in the long-term care profession and actively support Quality First, a covenant for healthy, affordable, and ethical long-term care, and adherence to its principles and goals. Nationwide, AHCA and NCAL represent more than 10,000 non-profit and for-profit facilities that are dedicated to professional and compassionate care to more than one million elderly and disabled individuals daily in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
