October 11, 2012

AHCA gears up for lame duck fight, embraces 'quality' theme

Encouraging providers to focus on quality in their facilities continues to be the recurring theme at the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living convention, the head of the group told McKnight's on Tuesday.

“What we've told our members is that quality has always been important to us,” AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson told Editorial Director John O'Connor. “What's really changed is that quality has become a reimbursement issue…If we're going to be able to adapt to new payment models going forward, we're going to have to be able to hit these quality measures that we've put forward with our quality initiatives.”

While Parkinson was reluctant to predict a winner in the 2012 presidential race, he said he does expect to see nursing homes come under attack during the lame duck Congressional session. However, Parkinson said he thinks AHCA has been successful in lobbying against sequestration cuts.

“We've been effective in arguing that if sequestration can be delayed for defense, then it should be delayed for us. That's a very good thing for our members,” Parkinson said.

Click on the video above to watch the full interview. Click here to see previous conference news.

The AHCA/NCAL conference concluded Wednesday in Tampa, FL.