Nursing home quality improvement efforts have largely succeeded in recent years, according to a report that was jointly released by the American Health Care Association and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care.
Gains are being seen in areas such as resident activities, restraint-use reduction, pressure ulcers, pain management and weight maintenance, say authors of the 2009 Annual Quality Report. Patient satisfaction rates—the percentage of patients who rate their nursing home experience as either “excellent” or “good”—climbed to 85% in 2008, up from 82% in 2007, they add.
The report also documents that many nursing homes have begun specializing in short-term rehabilitation care. Up to 40% of nursing home rehabilitation patients return to their homes or to the community within 25 days of admission.
Because of the focus on post-acute care, the length of stay of most patients is now less than 90 days, the report notes.
From the November 01, 2009 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
