Sen. Jay D. Rockefeller (D-WV)

Better quality monitoring, technology implementation and the creation of a less disruptive service spectrum are key ways to improve the nation’s long-term care system, according to several industry experts. Their suggestions emerged during a recent Senate Finance Health Subcommittee hearing.

It was a “monumental day” in Washington, said Larry Minnix, president and CEO of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. Alan Rosenbloom, president of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, praised senators on the subcommittee for “initiating one of the most significant, consequential policy discussions we will have all year in terms of how our nation will provide high quality care and services to U.S. seniors in the years and decades ahead.”

Ray Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association, said quality measurements, standards and processes to coordinate care could engender new reimbursement models that better capture costs of healthcare and care.