In 1987, Congress signed into law the Nursing Home Reform Law, which established nursing home oversight rules to improve facilities.
Mary Ousley, past chair of the American Health Care Association, testified before Congress in May about the long term care profession’s experience since the Nursing Home Reform Law went into effect and the need for facilities, providers, regulators, and consumers to work together to improve nursing home care. Last year, lawmakers introduced a bill called the Long Term Care Quality and Modernization Act of 2006, in the hopes of improving quality of care and encouraging cooperation between stakeholders.
A story in today’s Washington Post addresses similar issues. Advocates for the elderly want to put home back in nursing home care in an effort to “deinstitutionalize†facilities. This would be accomplished by giving residents autonomy to make their own decisions and lead meaningful lives. From the article:
“We want to change the culture of aging,” said Bonnie Kantor, executive director of the nonprofit Pioneer Network, a Rochester, N.Y.-based umbrella group leading the effort, “and we’re beginning with nursing homes.” Rather than warehouse those who are frail or disabled, the advocates of change argue, providers of long-term care need to create genuine communities where people receive needed services while continuing to lead meaningful lives.
Only a few hundred of more than 16,000 nursing homes nationwide have undergone the systemic transformation envisioned, according to the Pioneer Network. Hundreds more, including some in the Washington area, are taking first steps in that direction.
What distinguishes a humane nursing home? Pioneering homes go by a variety of names and descriptions — Eden Alternative, Green House, Planetree, resident-directed, person-centered — but share common features: autonomy and choice for residents, homey personal spaces, valued staff and a strong community of residents, staff, families and volunteers.