Quality Alliance Receives Grant to Help Improve Care Transitions Nationally

The Long-Term Quality Alliance (LTQA) has received a one-year grant from the New York-based Commonwealth Fund to help improve care transitions for older adults.

The grant will assist the LTQA in its efforts to inform policies related to delivery system innovation and care transitions for federal and state policymakers, as well as set the groundwork for an “Innovative Communities Learning Program” that spotlights transitional care best practices across the United States.

“Poor coordination of long-term services and supports with other levels of care and frequent transitions between settings is hugely detrimental to individuals and adds immeasurably to rising healthcare costs,” said LTQA Board Chair Mary Naylor, PhD, RN, FAAN, director of the New Courtland Center for Transitions and Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

An estimated 30 to 67 percent of hospitalizations among nursing home residents are potentially prevented through effective transitional care, according to the LTQA. With the establishment of the Innovative Communities Learning Program through the Commonwealth Fund, LTQA will seek out communities that have implemented solutions for smoother healthcare transitions and share these case studies for others to model.

“Implementation of health reform provides an opportunity to integrate long-term care into the healthcare system to improve quality and patients’ experiences, while moderating rising costs,” said Mary Jane Koren, MD, vice president for the Commonwealth Fund Long-Term Care Quality Improvement Program.

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