Skilled Nursing Care Centers

The new quality metrics for skilled nursing centers have been chosen carefully. First, they are all tied together and reinforce each other. Success in one area will lead to success in the others. Second, we have aligned all four goals with top priorities for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) as well as Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), and with federal mandates that link financial outcomes to quality performance. The new targets are:

• Safely reduce long-stay and short-stay hospitalizations by improving 10 percent-or maintain a rate of 10 percent or less;
• Improve functional outcomes (self-care and 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 residents.

Learn more about the skilled nursing goals at qualityinitiative.ahcancal.org.

Assisted Living Communities

The Quality Initiative is also inspiring the state-based, assisted living profession to collect and report national quality data without a government mandate. Similar to the skilled nursing goals, all the assisted living goals work in tandem. The three-year goals for assisted living communities are:

• Reduce turnover among direct care staff¬ to a rate of 50 percent or less;
• At least 90 percent of customers (residents and/or families) are satisfied with their experience;
• Safely reduce hospital readmissions within 30 days of hospital discharges to a rate of 20 percent or less; and
• Safely reduce the off¬-label use of antipsychotics to a rate of 15 percent or less.

Learn more about the assisted living goals at qualityinitiative.ncal.org.

American Health Care Association (AHCA) is ready to help you meet the new Infection Preventionist specialized training requirement finalized by CMS in the Reform of Requirements of Participation for Long Term Care Facilities.  The course provides specialized training for healthcare professionals who seek to serve as Infection Preventionists. Through this Infection Preventionist Specialized Training (IPCO) course, individuals will be specially trained to effectively implement and manage an Infection Prevention and Control Program at their nursing facility.

The course is an online, self-study program with 23 hours of training. It includes online lectures, case studies and interactive components taught by an array of experts from around the country.

AHCA’s Infection Preventionist Specialized Training (IPCO) training content includes:

• A thorough explanation of the impact of infections on the people who live, work and visit nursing centers.
• Definitions of essential components of an effective infection prevention and control program.
• Identification and management of common infections.
• Strategies to prevent the spread of infections.
• Identification and description of the steps necessary for infection surveillance, antibiotic stewardship, investigating, tracking and  reporting infections
• Successful implementation strategies.

In addition, the training addresses both clinical and organizational systems, processes and cultural aspects of infection prevention and control which are fundamental to effectively leading and administering a nursing facilities Infection Prevention & Control program

The course is open to AHCA/NCAL members for $450 and non-members for $650.  Group purchase with discount structure is available for groups of 25 or more. There are no refunds and no transfers.