NCAL extends assisted living quality goals

The progress toward quality improvement has come a long way in assisted living, but there’s more room to grow, says the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL). The organization has extended its national quality initiatives for another three years, through March 2018. The announcement came just days after its skilled nursing sister organization, the American Health Care Association (AHCA), announced a similar three-year extension to its quality initiatives.

“The quality initiative has made a palpable difference in the lives of thousands of our residents these past few years. We can’t stop here,” NCAL Executive Director David Kyllo said in a press statement. “Our pursuit of person-centered care doesn’t have a deadline, but these goals are important milestones for our journey.”

Similar to AHCA’s quality goals for skilled nursing, NCAL’s assisted living quality initiatives focus on four main categories:

1. Staff stability: Keep turnover below 40 percent for nursing and direct-care staff.
2. Customer satisfaction: Reach 90 percent resident satisfaction at assisted living sites.
3. Hospital readmissions: Reduce 30-day hospital readmission rates by 15 percent.
4. Antipsychotics: Reduce the off-label use of antipsychotic medications by 15 percent.

“Quality metrics are commodity in today’s healthcare world,” Lindsay Schwartz, PhD, NCAL’s senior director of workforce and quality improvement, said in a press statement. “The quality initiative helps assisted living communities offer clear evidence to partnering providers on how they are part of the solution in caring for seniors.”

Read more about NCAL’s Quality Initiative for Assisted Living.

Related article:

AHCA begins next phase of quality campaign

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.