Nursing Home Quality

 Nursing Home Quality Improvement

New York South Carolina Washington D.C.

An estimated 1.4 million Americans live in nursing homes on any given day and approximately one in five (22%) suffers harm during their stay. Nearly 60 percent of these incidents are deemed preventable, leading to a national call for improved safety and quality of care for nursing home residents.

The AQIN Collaborative Approach

Working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Atlantic Quality Innovation Network (AQIN), led by IPRO in New York and including the Qlarant in the District of Columbia and the Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence in South Carolina, is developing a strategy to guide local, state and national efforts in improving quality of care in nursing homes and skilled-nursing facilities.

As a collaborative effort, the AQIN is recruiting and partnering with long-term care communities and other providers throughout our three regions to improve nursing home quality and performance by focusing on enhanced consumer engagement, strengthened survey processes and standards, the creation of strategic partnerships and the advancement of quality through innovation.

Goals

Communities and other providers participating in this initiative will work with our industry experts to achieve the following goals over a five-year period, ending in 2019:

• Achieve a score of six or better on the Nursing Home Quality Composite Measure Score
• Improve the mobility of long-stay residents
• Reduce Inappropriate Use of Antipsychotic Medications
• Decrease healthcare-acquired conditions (HACs)

Nursing Homes can also target the following areas for improvement:

• Communication/Teamwork/Staff stability
• Collaborative Problem Solving
• Using Data to Drive Improvement

Key Strategies & Interventions

The AQIN will support participants of the Nursing Home Quality Care Collaborative by providing:

• Learning and Action Network activities – educational webinars and video series; informational emails; NH Quality Care Collaborative events (NHQCC); focused, virtual affinity group collaboration; and Peer Mentoring Program
• Quality Assurance & Performance Improvement (QAPI) principles, processes and resources;
• Collaborative Change Package resources

Nursing Home Quality Improvement Project

In joining the Nursing Home Quality Improvement project, participants will:

• Continue building on the previous QIO project work, the CMS Partnership for Dementia Care and the National Nursing Home Quality Care Collaborative’s current efforts.
• Submit a participation agreement signed by executive leadership (administrator, chief executive officer, chief operations officer or owner);
• Participate in educational collaborative sessions, teleconferences, affinity groups, webinars and website forums;
• Form an interdisciplinary team to work with IPRO on areas targeted for improvement;
• Develop interventions on topics specific to improving composite measure score;
• Develop interventions to decrease inappropriate usage of antipsychotic medications;
• Develop plans to improve resident mobility;
• Develop measures to align efforts to reduce avoidable hospital admissions/re-admissions;
• Initiate and update a QAPI Assessment Tool;
• Develop and apply strategies for implementing QAPI and overall quality within the nursing home by working to:
  • Utilize a data-driven and proactive approach to quality improvement
  • Identify opportunities for improvement
  • Address gaps in systems through planned interventions and working through action plans to improve the overall quality of care
  • Actively share best practices and lessons learned