News & Events

April 15, 2003

Nursing Homes Target Three High-Priority Quality Measures For Improving Health Care Qualidigm to Lead Statewide Education Efforts in Improving Nursing Home Quality of Care

Middletown, CT, As part of a national effort by the Medicare program to improve nursing home quality, Connecticut nursing homes will target three high-priority quality measures in an effort to improve the quality of care given to nursing home residents. Nursing homes will focus on reducing the use of restraints, lowering the percentage of residents who suffer from pain, and decreasing loss of function in some basic daily activities (ADL).

The focus on quality measures is part of the national Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI), an effort of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a federal agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Qualidigm®, Connecticut’s Quality Improvement Organization (QIO), is playing a vital role in the federal initiative by leading statewide education efforts to improve the quality of care provided in Connecticut nursing homes. In its efforts to improve quality, Qualidigm has partnered with organizations and associations that represent nursing homes and the interests of residents.

“Each state has been asked to specify three to five quality areas that could most benefit from our focused efforts. We chose to concentrate on these three measures in Connecticut because they have the best potential for nursing homes to modify and improve,” said Kathy Tuozzo, Project Manager, Qualidigm.

Quality measures come from resident assessment data that nursing homes routinely collect on all residents at specified intervals during their stay (referred to as the Minimum Data Set). This collected information pertains to the medical condition, needs, functional level, as well as the preferences and life care wishes of every resident in a nursing home certified to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.

This nursing home quality data for nearly 17,000 nationwide Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing homes is available to the public by going to ‘Nursing Home Compare’ on www.medicare.gov or by calling 1.800.MEDICARE (1.800.633.4227).

Connecticut facilities will work on improving the following measures:
Pain: Estimates are that 80 percent of all residents in nursing homes have some level of pain. Most pain can be controlled, so daily pain may indicate a quality of care issue. In addition, people with uncontrolled pain may become weak and depressed, eat less and have an overall poor quality of life.
ADL: Most residents value taking care of themselves. It is important that nursing home staff encourage residents to do as much as they can for themselves. When people stop taking care of themselves, their health is likely to be jeopardized. If facilities can work on maintaining or improving basic activities of daily living, such as eating, getting dressed or going to the bathroom, then this will in return affect other areas of quality such as restraints or pressure ulcers.
Restraints: Physical restraints are sometimes used to prevent the resident from injuring themselves or other people, to keep them in bed, or to prevent them from falling.

Current research in nursing homes has shown that in many cases, a careful assessment of the resident’s behavior and risk factors can show the nursing home team ways to try to keep the resident safe without using physical restraints. Alternates to restraints are important to maintain the resident’s strength and to ensure as much independence as possible.

“The NHQI program will allow nursing homes to improve on existing measures by making them more outcome-oriented and more representative of the patients actually served in the nursing homes,” added Tuozzo. “We look forward to helping Connecticut nursing homes improve the quality of health care they provide.”

“I think it’s very wise of federal and state health officials to concentrate available resources on the most needy areas. Any time you do too much, you simply don’t succeed. Those quality measures targeted for attention are the most meaningful to what we need to do to enhance and improve care for our residents,” said Tuozzo.

Consumers may get information about the quality of nursing homes in their area by calling Medicare’s toll-free help line, 1.800.MEDICARE (1.800.633.4227) or by visiting www.medicare.gov, and clicking on Nursing Home Compare.

ABOUT QUALIDIGM:

Qualidigm is a contractor with CMS and has been a leader in health care quality improvement initiatives. Over the years, Qualidigm has been successful facilitating improvement in hospitals and physician offices and looks forward to continued success in the nursing home arena.

For further information, please contact:
Qualidigm
Allyson Schulz

Telephone: 860.632.6361