Nursing home chains take worthy quality steps
Two privately held nursing home chains went public this week with smart quality and resident care initiatives. The moves are worth touting – particularly in light of the scrutiny and bad press that have bombarded the for-profit skilled nursing sector since the beginning of the year.
First, HCR ManorCare disclosed that it has created an independent advisory committee on quality. The committee’s task is to provide advice and recommendations to the company’s board of directors “on ways to measure, maintain and improve quality of care for HCR ManorCare patients and residents.”
The panel is composed of three highly respected experts: Vincent Mor, a Brown University professor who was one of the authors of the Minimum Data Set (MDS) for Nursing Home Resident Assessment; Robyn Stone, who leads the Future of Aging Services at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging; and Gail Wilensky, who was formerly administrator of what is now the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
These three heavy hitters can no doubt offer some valuable advice that will help to improve the public image of the beleaguered nursing home chain. As you may recall, the Service Employees International Union earlier this year mounted a massive assault on the chain’s purchase by the global private equity firm, The Carlyle Group. Its boycott stalled the purchase for several months.
Golden program
Another smart business decision emerged this week from Golden Living. It unveiled a fully integrated program to manage diabetes for its nursing home residents, more than 30% of whom suffer from the disease.
A consultant and staff have developed six training modules: understanding diabetes, nutrition, oral medication therapy, injected medication therapy, hypoglycemia treatment, and skin and lower extremity care. Each module contains documents to train the medical staff.
The program is being tested around the country and will eventually expand to most of the company’s 329 LivingCenters. This initiative is one of several that the chain, formerly known as Beverly Enterprises Inc., has implemented since it was taken public in 2006.
Clearly, these two companies have been paying attention to the quality accusations that have been volleyed at them and their for-profit brethren. It’s good to see that they have not shrunk from the criticism, but have taken it as a call to arms of sorts.
Kudos to ManorCare and Golden Living. Their initiatives are the kinds of steps that residents, families and staff – and critics of the field – will reward.
You’re giving kudos to what is supposed to be a QUALITY committee because it will “improve the public image?” That’s shameful. ManorCare needs to fix CARE and stop making empty PR moves.
Excuse me, but one can improve one’s public image by improving care. And how can anyone declare something as an “empty” move when it hasn’t even had time to do anything yet?! You wouldn’t happen to be a union rabble-rouser, would you, Mr. Popper? This panel’s members are big-time. Robyn Stone’s integrity is impeccable — and remember she’s with AAHSA, which is for non-profit providers. It’s pretty easy to sit back on your log and take potshots. Try getting down in the trenches for a while and then comment.
If you’re not paying enough attention to diabetes like these folks are, you’re headed for trouble. Just a warning to anyone not doing enough. We found out the hard way.
Mr.Baker,
I was an aide for 41/2 years and worked as a nurse at the same manorcare facility for an additional 2 years. In addition, I am now a CRNA at a well respected and magnet hospital and a legal nurse consultant for a very large law firm that handles a large amount of medical cases. I also still have friends who work for various HCR facilitys around the country. believe me when I say that HCR will do and say whatever it can to keep the money rolling in. Have you ever been an aide or a nurse? I hope your not just some business major who thinks he knows what hes talking about just because hes on the business side of things in a healthcare setting. Plain and simple, HCR is even more about profit now then ever because of the carlyle group. When the largest investment firm in the world buys you out what did you think was going to happen?