CORRECTION (1/16/20): The number of assisted living achievers has been updated to reflect a reconsideration of criteria for achieving the hospital readmission goal.
Washington, D.C. — Today, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) recognized more than 9,800 skilled nursing care centers and assisted living communities nationwide for their work to improve the quality of care they provide. The providers recognized today have achieved one or more national goals for quality improvement.
“The long term and post-acute care profession has been at the forefront of quality improvement efforts, and the results speak for themselves,” said Mark Parkinson, President and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. “It’s obvious that providers have put effort into quality improvement this past year, and I'm confident we'll continue to make progress in the years to come.”
Goals achieved | Skilled nursing center achievers
| Assisted living
achievers
|
|---|
4
| 624 centers
| 16 communities
|
3
| 3,241 centers
| 41 communities
|
2
| 3,854 centers
| 101 communities
|
1
| 1,787 centers
| 238 communities
|
- Safely reduce long-stay and short-stay hospitalizations by improving 10 percent—or maintain a rate of 10 percent or less;
- Improve functional outcomes (mobility) by 15 percent;
- Improve long-stay and short-stay satisfaction by 10 percent—or achieve a rate of 90 percent or greater; and
- Safely reduce the off-label use of antipsychotics by 10 percent, or maintain a rate of 8 percent or less in long-stay residents, and maintain a rate of 1 percent or less in short-stay patients.
- Direct care staff turnover is 50 percent or less;
- 90 percent or more of residents and/or family members are satisfied with their experience;
- Hospital readmissions within 30 days of hospital discharges are 20 percent or less; and
- Off-label use of antipsychotics is 15 percent of residents or less.
The AHCA/NCAL Quality Initiative challenges long term and post-acute care member providers to meet specific, measurable targets in key areas by March 2021. Since the launch of these national quality goals in 2012, fewer residents are returning to the hospital and use of antipsychotic medications has declined. In the last two years, a quarter of AHCA member skilled nursing centers have reduced hospital readmissions by at least 15 percent. More than 40 percent of member centers have eliminated the off-label use of antipsychotics for short-stay residents. For long-stay residents, 25 percent of member centers have fewer than eight percent of residents on antipsychotics.
Eligibility for skilled nursing centers was determined by data pulled from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Minimum Data Set and Nursing Home Compare, as well as customer satisfaction scores submitted by member facilities via AHCA/NCAL’s data tracking tool LTC Trend Tracker. Assisted living communities submitted their data on all Quality Initiative goals to
LTC Trend Tracker in order to demonstrate achievement.
AHCA/NCAL created the Quality Initiative Recognition Program to honor member facilities for their individual work in achieving AHCA/NCAL Quality Initiative goals. A list of achievers can be found on the AHCA/NCAL Quality Initiative Recognition Program webpages
here and
here.
Program achievers will be recognized at the AHCA/NCAL Quality Summit in Grapevine, Texas, on March 10, 2020.
ABOUT AHCA/NCAL
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) represents 14,000 non-profit and proprietary skilled nursing centers, assisted living communities, sub-acute centers and homes for individuals with intellectual and development disabilities. By delivering solutions for quality care, AHCA/NCAL aims to improve the lives of the millions of frail, elderly and individuals with disabilities who receive long term or post-acute care in our member facilities each day. For more information, please visit
www.ahca.org or
www.ncal.org.