LeadingAge and AHCA Team Up to Advance Nursing Home Quality Agenda
On Mon., March 15th, LeadingAge and the American Health Care Association (AHCA) announced a set of policy recommendations aimed at ensuring quality in nursing homes. Entitled the Care for Our Seniors Act, the proposal delineates the first, immediate steps needed to address issues that LeadingAge has been talking about for years, including survey reform and staffing. These reforms are predicated on an increase in Medicaid and other funding that is consistent with the cost of delivering quality care.
The proposal is centered around four key areas for reform:
- Clinical: Enhance the quality of care in nursing homes by developing clearer standards for infection preventionists; requiring that each nursing home have a registered nurse on staff, 24 hours per day; and requiring a minimum 30-day supply of personal protective equipment in all nursing homes.
- Workforce: Strengthen and support our frontline caregivers by implementing a multi-phase, tiered approach to attract, retain, and develop more long term care professionals, leveraging federal, state, and academic institutions.
- Oversight: Implement improvements establishing a more resident-driven system by developing an effective oversight system and processes that support better care and protect residents. This would include implementing a process to help turn around or close facilities that are chronically poor performers and adding customer satisfaction to the government’s five-star rating system to help monitor the quality of a facility for family members and guide consumer choice.
- Structural: Modernize nursing homes by conducting a national study on how to shift to more private rooms, which promote resident privacy, autonomy, and dignity, as well as support infection control best practices.
More information is available here.
Contact: Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org