NQF Endorses Customer Satisfaction Measure for Assisted Living Residents, Families

“CoreQ” is first assisted living measure endorsed by NQF in the nation

Quality; Quality Initiative
Released:January 17, 2019
Rachel Reeves
(202) 898-2803
rreves@ncal.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) announced today that the National Quality Forum (NQF) has endorsed a set of standardized measures to assess satisfaction among assisted living residents and their loved ones. Developed by AHCA/NCAL, the two surveys called the “CoreQ” are the only recognized set of assisted living customer satisfaction measures in the country, and NQF’s endorsement is considered the gold standard for healthcare measurement in the United States.

“As a profession that prides itself on providing person-centered care, assisted living should continue to hone in on customer satisfaction,” said NCAL Executive Director Scott Tittle. “This endorsement of CoreQ by NQF will bring consistency between assisted living providers in capturing this important feedback. AHCA/NCAL is incredibly proud to have pushed this measure to the forefront for the benefit and betterment of the entire profession.”

The CoreQ questionnaires measure individual experience with staff, care and overall satisfaction. Residents are also specifically surveyed on the food offered. Each measure calculates the percentage of individuals who are satisfied, thus yielding an overall score of satisfaction.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization that works to catalyze improvements in healthcare. According to its website, NQF-endorsed measures serve as a critically important foundation for initiatives to enhance healthcare value, make patient care safer, and achieve better outcomes. Expert committees that are comprised of various stakeholders, including patients, providers, and payers, evaluate measures for NQF endorsement. The federal government and many private sector entities use NQF-endorsed measures above all others because of the rigor and consensus process behind them.

“Studies show that customer satisfaction is directly linked to ensuring high-quality care,” said Lindsay Schwartz, PhD, Associate Vice President of Workforce and Quality Improvement at AHCA/NCAL. “We worked meticulously with our partners in developing the CoreQ questions to get at the heart of what matters to assisted living residents and their loved ones. With this endorsement, we hope more providers will incorporate CoreQ into their satisfaction surveys to better understand how they’re doing and where they can improve.”

AHCA/NCAL developed and released CoreQ in 2016 as part of the association’s Quality Initiative to ensure at least 90 percent of residents and/or family members are satisfied with their assisted living experience. Since then, more than 15 customer satisfaction vendors have agreed to offer CoreQ in questionnaires issued to assisted living customers, as well as automatically upload results on a member’s behalf into AHCA/NCAL’s quality and data tracking tool, LTC Trend Tracker. Member providers may then monitor their customer satisfaction results over time and in relation to their peers.

CoreQ represents the only known, independently-tested measure of customer satisfaction used widely by assisted living providers. NQF endorsement is secured through extensive testing and evaluation of a measure’s reliability and validity. Additionally, AHCA/NCAL developed three sets of CoreQ survey questions for skilled nursing short-stay patients, long-stay residents and families, which were also endorsed by NQF in 2016.

For more information about CoreQ, visit www.C​oreQ.org.
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