Texas nursing homes on board for quality improvement

More than 200 nursing homes in Texas have signed onto a new federal program to improve care for their residents.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            CONTACT: Kevin Warren
                        NHQI Director
                        512-329-6610
Nancy Siefken
Communications
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Texas nursing homes on board for quality improvement

(AUSTIN) -- February 18, 2003 - More than 200 nursing homes in Texas have signed onto a new federal program to improve care for their residents.

They are responding to the new Nursing Home Quality Initiative," aimed at improving the quality of nursing home care. The program, which was announced last November, is administered by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and identifies 10 quality measures as significant indicators of a facilitys overall quality of care.

Clearly, the level of positive response we have received is an indication of the desire of both government and private industry to improve nursing home care in Texas." said Phil Dunne, CEO of the Texas Medical Foundation, the Medicare quality improvement organization for Texas.

The program is designed to improve care by providing data that allows the public to compare quality measures between specific nursing homes. The program also funds quality improvement organizations in each state to assist nursing homes in using best practices" to make systems changes and improve care.

Ten specific quality measures from nearly 17,000 Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing homes in the United States are now available on the Web site www.medicare.gov or via the toll-free help line, 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). Available consumer information includes such quality measures as the prevalence of physical restraints at a nursing home and the percentage of residents with pressure ulcers.

Nursing homes participating in the effort will receive free assistance from TMF to help them identify areas to improve the quality of care they provide to their residents. In Texas, those quality measures targeted for improvement include reducing the prevalence of pressure sores and the use of physical restraints and improving pain management among nursing home residents.

To help us move our state forward as a whole in the area of nursing home quality care, we must work in partnership with a group of nursing homes with whom we can coordinate intensive efforts," said Dunne.
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Tim Graves, president, Texas Health Care Association, which represents approximately 50 percent of the nursing home providers in Texas, said nursing home industry leaders are working closely with Texas Medical Foundation to set high goals for the nursing homes in Texas. Wed like this to be a model for effective quality assistance," Graves said.

Over the past few months, the people at Texas Medical Foundation have shown themselves willing to understand and work with our industry," said Graves. We are looking forward to this partnership and discovering ways to make our nursing homes better places for our residents."

Dunne said the states selected intensive group will be laying the foundation for an aggressive effort to improve the quality of care available in all the nursing homes in Texas.

Most nursing home facilities have been required to do quality assurance programs that met the minimum standards for licensing and/or certification, Dunne said. We want to implement ongoing improvements that are better than the minimum. The quality improvement concept also involves more than just a few people; its a philosophy that should involve all staff at all levels."

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