Nursing Home Experts Unveil Path Toward Quality Improvements

A new supplemental issue to the journal Public Policy & Aging Report (PP&AR) from The Gerontological Society of America focuses on specific recommendations from the 2022 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report “The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality” — and describes how relevant stakeholders can move those recommendations into action.

Titled “2022 NASEM Quality of Nursing Home Report: Moving Recommendations to Action,” the journal includes articles co-authored by members of the committee that produced the report. Support for this issue of PP&AR was provided by The John A. Hartford Foundation.

The goals of the report spanned several areas: care delivery, workforce, transparency and accountability, financing, quality assurance, quality measurement, and technology.

“In the process of developing this report, the committee was tasked to make bold and actionable recommendations that would transform care delivery and the nursing home environment for residents, families, and staff,” said Jasmine L. Travers, PhD, RN, MHS, an assistant professor at New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing who served on the NASEM committee, and who contributed to several articles and served as contact editor for this issue of PP&AR. “Now that these recommendations are out in the public, this special issue is just one of many efforts the committee has undertaken to ensure that the recommendations don’t just sit on the shelves of those who are going to be key to moving them into action.”

Among the next possible steps laid out, the authors:

• Highlight the need for minimum degree and certification requirements for nurses, social workers, physicians and other workers, greater hours in training for certified nursing assistants, geriatric-specific content in curricula, and experiential learning for all nursing home staff.

• Delineate several pragmatic approaches that would encourage the successful development, implementation, and maintenance of care models that can deliver comprehensive, person-centered, and equitable care to residents.

• Review existing federal policies to identify how these policies align with the committee’s recommendations specific to certified nursing assistants, also highlighting the gaps in these policies and offering suggestions pertaining to the development of actionable and salient federal policies and rules.

• Highlight the need for alternative payment models that incentivize safety and quality in this setting, focusing on payment demonstrations and policies attempted in the past, lessons from those efforts, and challenges that should be addressed in future demonstration efforts.

• Underscore the importance of financial support from state and federal governments to promote the successful implementation of health information technology into nursing homes.

Following the release of the NASEM report, the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition was established to take action now on issues raised in the report that can be addressed immediately or in the near future. The Coalition continues to seek and engage interested participants to join in leading this national effort to improve nursing home quality.

 ###

Public Policy & Aging Report is a publication of The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,500+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA’s structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society.