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Division of Aging and Division of Aging and DHS Divisions General Eldercare Locator
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This
column appears in the July 2008 edition of Aging Arkansas,
Advancing Excellence in Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes is an initiative to improve quality of care and life for the country’s 1.5 million nursing home residents. It involves a broad-based coalition of long-term care providers, caregivers, medical and quality improvement experts, government agencies, and consumers. The nursing homes enrolled to date represent over 38% of all nursing facilities in the U.S. Arkansas has achieved 100% participation. “We encourage nursing home providers, caregivers, and consumers alike to join the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes campaign,” said Paul McGann, MD, geriatrician and Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “The scale and breadth of this commitment is unprecedented and nothing like this has ever been done before in nursing home care. The campaign is truly a win for everyone, especially those who provide — or receive — care in nursing homes.” Participating facilities are required to select three goals to improve quality, although many are selecting four. To date, most facilities (69%) have chosen Goal 1, Reducing high risk pressure ulcers, and Goal 6, Assessing resident and family satisfaction with the quality of care (64.5%). Many other nursing homes selected Goal 2, Reducing the use of daily physical restraints (43%); Goal 3, Improving pain management for longer term nursing home residents (54%); Goal 4, Improving pain management for short stay, post-acute nursing home residents (39%); Goal 5, Establishing individual targets for improving quality (30%); Goal 7, Increasing staff retention (40%); and Goal 8, Improving consistent assignment of nursing home staff, so that residents regularly receive care from the same caregivers (31%). The campaign has developed focused resource materials to provide evidence-based information in support of all eight Advancing Excellence goals. Implementation guides have also been developed for each campaign goal. Each guide includes the campaign goal, flow diagram, process framework, process review tools, and references. These guides are designed to assist all nursing homes in meeting their selected campaign goals. The purpose of this information is to help nursing homes: • Identify and manage the problems, risks, and health related conditions of nursing home residents, and • Provide individualized care and improved outcomes. In addition to the campaign leaders and numerous facilities, more than 1,150 consumers are participating in Advancing Excellence. “We believe that residents themselves, along with family members and advocates, can best define quality and provide essential information to facility staff about how their quality of care can be improved,” states Alice Hedt, Executive Director for NCCNHR, the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care. One way participation is achieved is through LANEs, short for Local Area Network for Excellence. A LANE is a coalition of stakeholders at the state level that comes together for the purpose of supporting providers and consumers in achieving the campaign goals. The LANE serves as the central organization to ensure the success of the campaign for each state. Its purpose is to recruit participating providers and consumers, to promote the campaign, to provide access to local education, to foster constructive relationships among stakeholders, and to identify evidenced-based protocols. In Arkansas LANE members include the Arkansas Department of Human Services, The Office of Long Term Care, Arkansas Health Care Association, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Arkansas State Ombudsman, Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care Nursing Home Quality Initiative and Arkansas Innovative Performance Program, Arkansas Health Care Foundation, UAMS College of Nursing, Hartford Center on Geriatric Nursing Excellence. Consumers can participate in the Campaign by: √ Clicking on the “For Consumers” button and register as a participating consumer to show that you want nursing homes to strive for excellence. √ If the nursing home where you reside or visit is participating, finding out how and what goals they have chosen. Discuss what steps they will be taking to improve quality and how consumers can participate. √ Talking to other families, residents, and consumers of nursing home care. Educating them about this campaign and encourage them to participate. √ Discussing the campaign during resident and family councils meetings. √ Volunteering to brainstorm with a team from the nursing home on how to improve in the areas chosen by the nursing home to work on. √ Contacting the LANE (Local Area Network for Excellence) if you want to be a part of statewide activities. Click on “For LANEs” on the Web site. Arkansas is the only state to have all nursing facilities enrolled in the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes campaign. Congratulations to all who are working to improve care! Division of Aging and Adult Services |
