https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U7sQ3b8HaA4dombnOFU9KcM3dSdY7PZg/view?usp=sharing
The National Academies of Sciences has released a comprehensive report, The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality-Honoring Our Commitment to Residents, Families and Staff. The 600-page report identifies critical opportunities to improve the quality of care in nursing homes through both short- and long-term actions across a wide variety of domains, including delivery, payment, quality measures, and regulations. The overarching conclusion the report makes is that “the way in which the United States finances, delivers, and regulates care in nursing home settings is ineffective, inefficient, fragmented, and unsustainable.” The report calls for immediate action to initiate change in this setting and to ensure that any quality improvement initiatives are implemented using strategies that do not exacerbate disparities in resource allocation, quality of care, or resident outcomes. The report recommends that medical directors have a requirement for minimum education and national competency, as well as recommending routine collection and reporting of data, including demographic information, for medical directors, administrators, and directors of nursing.
The report lays out seven main goals:
- Goal 1: Deliver Comprehensive Person-Centered Equitable Care that Ensures the Health, Quality of Life, and Safety of Nursing Home Residents; Promotes Resident Autonomy; and Manages Risk
- Goal 2: Ensure a Well-Prepared, Empowered, and Appropriately Compensated Workforce
- Goal 3: Increase Transparency and Accountability of Finances, Operations, and Ownership
- Goal 4: Create a More Rational and Robust Financing System
- Goal 5: Design a More Effective and Responsive System of Quality Assurance
- Goal 6: Expand and Enhance Quality Measurement and Continuous Quality Improvement
- Goal 7: Adopt Health Information Technology in All Nursing Homes