Long Term Care Facility Improvement Study

Among the issues confronting America is long-term care for frail, older persons and others with chronic conditions and functional limitations that limit their ability to care for themselves. Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care takes a comprehensive look at the quality of care and quality of life in long-term care, including nursing homes, home health agencies, residential care facilities, family members and a variety of others. This book describes the current state of long-term care, identifying problem areas and offering recommendations for federal and state policymakers. Who uses long-term care? How have the characteristics of this population changed over time? What paths do people follow in long term care? The committee provides the latest information on these and other key questions. This book explores strengths and limitations of available data and research literature especially for settings other than nursing homes, on methods to measure, oversee, and improve the quality of long-term care. The committee makes recommendations on setting and enforcing standards of care, strengthening the caregiving workforce, reimbursement issues, and expanding the knowledge base to guide organizational and individual caregivers in improving the quality of care.

As more people live longer, the need for quality long-term care for the elderly will increase dramatically. This volume examines the current system of nursing home regulations, and proposes an overhaul to better provide for those confined to such facilities. It determines the need for regulations, and concludes that the present regulatory system is inadequate, stating that what is needed is not more regulation, but better regulation. This long-anticipated study provides a wealth of useful background information, in-depth study, and discussion for nursing home administrators, students, and teachers in the health care field; professionals involved in caring for the elderly; and geriatric specialists.

Effective Management of Long-Term Care Facilities, Fourth Edition examines the complex operations of the long-term care facility and offers critical skills to current and future long-term care administrators for delivering quality, cost-effective services. An excellent resource for both new and seasoned long-term care managers, this logically organized text begins with an understanding of what long-term care is and why it's an integral part of the health care delivery system. It moves on to explore the legal and regulatory parameters and payment constraints within which long-term care facilities must be managed; each of the main functional departments that administrators must understand and oversee; and, effective governance and leadership and management of human resources, marketing and quality—much of which is unique to nursing home administration. The final section of the book offers case studies to simulate situations that the administrator is likely to encounter in practice.