Persistent Progress
NCAL Board of Directors
The NCAL Board charts the course for the association by developing its annual strategic plan as well as major policy positions. The board is a diverse group of member providers from across the country, each offering their deep expertise and strong commitment to the long term care profession.
Growing Membership
NCAL grew its membership by more than 10.5% in 2016. At the end of the year, NCAL represented nearly 3,900 assisted living communities with more than 217,000 beds across 43 state affiliate chapters.
Strength Through Diversity
NCAL prides itself on serving a diverse mix of assisted living providers, representative of the diversity of the profession. The association welcomes small, independent operators, as well as regional and national multi-facility companies. NCAL also serves both for-profit and not-for-profit assisted living organizations.
AHCA/NCAL Quality Awards Program
More NCAL members applied and received a Quality Award in 2016 than ever before. At the AHCA/NCAL Annual Convention & Expo in Nashville last October, 150 assisted living communities were recognized for their achievement. Based on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, AHCA/NCAL’s Quality Award Program receives more applications than all the other Baldrige-based programs combined.
LTC Trend Tracker from FCI Creative on Vimeo.
To help assisted living providers demonstrate its commitment to quality care, NCAL has been at the forefront of creating national data tracking solutions.
In 2016, we expanded LTC Trend Tracker for assisted living with four new measures: hospital admissions, hospital readmissions, off-label use of antipsychotics, and occupancy rates. Now NCAL members can track all of their Quality Initiative progress in one place and compare their results to their peer providers at the local, regional and national levels.
By the end of 2016, more than 900 assisted living communities had registered to take advantage of this exclusive member benefit.
Members as Advocates
While NCAL is committed to serving as the assisted living’s voice in our nation’s capital, we believe the best advocates for the profession are those who are working on the frontlines.
At Congressional Briefing and other organized Hill visits, providers were given the opportunity to meet directly with their members of Congress and speak about the important issues.
Many NCAL members also provided tours of their communities to elected officials, so these leaders could learn about assisted living services, meet with residents, and hear about specific challenges first-hand.
Provider Janie Oldham meets with Rep. Diane Black while in D.C. for the NCAL State Leader training.
Fighting for Our Issues
NCAL continued to work with CMS to ensure assisted living communities are considered a home and community-based setting under the Medicaid waiver program, to prevent vulnerable seniors from having to move out of their assisted living home.
AHCA/NCAL also submitted numerous comments on other regulatory issues impacting the assisted living profession and coming from federal agencies such as CMS, OSHA and the Department of Labor.
A Resource to Policymakers and Stakeholders
Once again, NCAL published its annual State Regulatory Review, summarizing key state requirements for assisted living licensure or certification. The report found that nearly half of states modified assisted living regulations in 2016, the most common being related to staffing and training, dementia care, and medication management.
10th Anniversary of NCAL Day
In partnership with AHCA, NCAL strives to create great networking and learning opportunities throughout the year. The assisted living event of the year is NCAL Day held prior to the AHCA/NCAL Convention & Expo.
In 2016, the 10th Annual NCAL Day took place in Nashville, where assisted living providers heard about the latest regulatory trends and data collection efforts, as well as advancing technology and affordability in assisted living.
NCAL Awards Program
In our four distinct categories, the 2016 NCAL Awards Program recipients were:
Administrator of the Year
CARMY JEROME
Aspen House Memory Care Assisted Living
Loveland, CO
Assisted Living Nurse of the Year
STEPHANIE LAVIGNE
Machias Maine Veterans’ Homes
Machias, ME
Noble Caregiver in Assisted Living
ANGELA HUMES
Dogwood Village Senior Living
Orange, VA
National Assisted Living Week Program of the Year
Brandywine Senior Living Princeton
Princeton, NJ
National Assisted Living Week
NCAL established National Assisted Living Week® to celebrate the unique individuals who reside in assisted living, as well as the dedicated staff and volunteers who help to ensure residents enjoy a high quality of life.
Held September 11–17, 2016, the NALW theme “Keep Connected” recognized the increasing opportunity technology can offer to enhance the care and overall experience in assisted living. But it also reminded us that sometimes the strongest relationships are formed in person and between assisted living staff and residents.
