Report: culture change in nursing homes good for business

Nursing homes that have adopted aspects of the culture change movement, or at least strive to, are more likely to see benefits in resident satisfaction, staff retention, higher occupancy rates and improved operational costs, according to a recently released survey of directors of nursing.

In the report, which was conducted by The Commonwealth Fund, nursing homes were broken into three groups: culture change adopters (31%), culture change strivers (25%) and traditional nursing homes (43%). Of the adopters, 60% reported improvements in operational costs compared with 31% of traditional nursing homes. Additionally, staff absenteeism decreased in half of the homes that adopted culture change, according to the report. Roughly a third of traditional nursing homes reported any such similar decrease in absenteeism. Culture change is a movement emphasizing resident-centered care in nursing homes.

Adopting cultural changes can also increase a facility’s marketability, according to the report. A total of 78% of adopters reported improved market position, compared with 54% of traditional homes. The Picker/Commonwealth Fund Quality of Care for Frail Elders program and the Pioneer Network will co-host an online meeting to discuss the report titled “Culture Change in Nursing Homes: How Far Have We Come?” this afternoon between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. EST.

To register for the event, please go to https://commonwealthfund.webex.com/commonwealthfund/onstage/g.php?d=559115991&t=a.

To view an analysis of the report, please go to http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=684709.