One of the nursing home industry’s largest trade groups, LeadingAge, received a $1 million grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation on Tuesday with the aim of furthering some of the recommendations laid out in the recently released National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) report.
The report – dubbed The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality – described the nursing home industry as a fragmented and unsustainable system and called for swift action to change the way care is financed, delivered and regulated in nursing homes. The over 600-page report, released in April, calls for new standards and measures for the sector, including establishing a minimum staffing standard, and better and more effective oversight of nursing home ownership, among other recommendations.
The John A. Hartford Foundation was one of the sponsors of the report.
The nonprofit philanthropic organization said that it selected LeadingAge for the grant because of its diverse membership base with providers across aging services as well as its past successes in rethinking policy approaches.
LeadingAge represents more than 5,000 nonprofit aging service providers with members across the country.
“Nursing homes face a web of complex challenges, but the NASEM report provides clear, solution-driven recommendations for making progress,” Terry Fulmer, president of JAHF, said in a news release announcing the grant. “The time is now to unite and take action that will deliver measurable and meaningful improvements in the care of older adults.”
As a grant recipient, LeadingAge will put together a coalition of stakeholders across the sector in order to advance the NASEM report recommendations. The group will be charged with identifying the most immediately actionable recommendations from the NASEM report and devising a strategic plan to make them a reality.
The strategies will be informed by LeadingAge and the project coalition. LeadingAge will also offer direct training and support to nursing homes through virtual education opportunities and activities with local organizations.
The grant totals $1,168,868 over a 24-month period.
“The NASEM report is a wake-up call for our country – and long overdue. As the only organization representing providers across the care continuum, LeadingAge brings a unique perspective and depth of experience from our work in advocacy, education and research to this project,” Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, said in the news release. “It is time for action – and we’re excited to take the lead on this ambitious effort to implement the NASEM recommendations.”
Sloan and Alice Bonner, a geriatric nurse practitioner and senior advisor for aging at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, will lead the coalition.
“Effective, inclusive collaboration is vital to making progress,” Bonner said in the news release. “By working together to move recommendations forward, JAHF, LeadingAge and IHI are demonstrating the power of collaboration through example.”
Companies featured in this article:
Institute for Healthcare Improvement, John A. Hartford Foundation, LeadingAge, National Academies of Sciences
