New Report From the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine identifies critical opportunities to improve the quality of care in nursing homes

With support from a coalition of sponsors, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine formed the Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes to examine how the United States delivers, finances, regulates, and measures the quality of nursing home care. The committee’s investigation led to several key conclusions about the current state of nursing home care and led to the development of seven broad goals and an interrelated set of recommendations, which provide the overarching framework for a comprehensive approach to improving the quality of care in nursing homes. These goals are:

Goal #1: deliver comprehensive, person-centered, equitable care that ensures the health, quality of life, and safety of nursing home residents; promotes resident autonomy; and manages risks

Goal #2: ensure a well-prepared, empowered, and appropriately compensated workforce

Goal #3: increase transparency and accountability of finances, operations, and ownership

Goal #4: create a more rational and robust financing system

Goal #5: design a more effective and responsive system of quality assurance

Goal #6: expand and enhance quality measurement and continuous quality improvement

Goal #7: adopt health information technology in all nursing homes

For a high-level overview of the committee’s extensive set of recommendations read the highlights of the study HERE and the access the full report HERE. Nursing homes play a unique dual role in the nation’s long-term care continuum, serving both as a place where people receive needed health care and a place they call home. Although long-term care is increasingly being provided in home- and community-based settings, nursing homes will likely always be needed for individuals who cannot get the level of care they require in those settings. Implementing the committee’s integrated set of recommendations will move the nation closer to making high-quality, person-centered, and equitable care a reality for all nursing home residents, their chosen families, and the nursing home workforce.