Michigan Home Care Experts

A report issued by the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care warns of a coming long-term care crisis and includes recommendations to advance long-term care reform in four areas: quality, workforce, technology and finance. 

As Home Instead’s The BUZZ continues its look at this report, entitled “Isolation to Integration: Recommendations to Improve Quality in Long-Term Care,” today’s article details recommendations regarding quality. Highlights of the commission’s 26 recommendations include:

·         A critical part of long-term care quality is the individual’s quality of life. Giving individuals more choice and control over the services they receive in the settings of their choice will enhance their quality of life;

·         A common set of measures for quality of long-term care should be developed that is standardized, comprehensive and clear;

·         Individual and family satisfaction and experience with care are critical dimensions of quality;

·         Substantial investments should be made in the dissemination of comparative quality information to consumers as a way to promote quality improvements through competition;

·         Standards and inspections should no longer focus only on detection of deficiencies, but also should identify excellence; and,

·         To enable family caregivers to help individuals with disabilities live in their homes, adequate supports should be available.

To read more about the report, see the news release at http://www.qualitylongtermcarecommission.org/pdf/looming_care_crisis_20071203.pdf.  Or, to download a PDF of this report, go to http://www.qualitylongtermcarecommission.org/pdf/Final_Report_NCQLTC_20071203.pdf.