Harrisburg, PA (October 31, 2023) — The Pennsylvania Health Care Association (PHCA) launched a new dashboard today to track quality measures of Pennsylvania nursing facilities. The dashboard is concentrated on six areas of focus, identified by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS), to improve nursing home resident outcomes and reduce overall expenses. The dashboard includes two additional metrics identified by PHCA and the association’s members that are also quality priorities for nursing home providers. All eight metrics are measured against national averages to demonstrate how Pennsylvania facilities are performing against the rest of the sector.
“When carrying out the mission of caring for others, the primary objective is to always provide quality care to residents you serve,” said Zach Shamberg, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association. “Too often, there’s blanketed criticism surrounding the quality of care in nursing homes, but this new dashboard will now allow us to demonstrate the improvements providers continue to make, as well as point to other areas that need to be addressed.”
As part of a quality incentive program (QIP) first introduced in 2021, DHS will soon begin rewarding providers for quality scores relative to state and national benchmarks. Nursing home providers who demonstrate quality improvements will receive Medicaid reimbursement incentives.
The six quality measures identified by DHS include:
- Percentage of short stay residents who were re-hospitalized after a NF admission
- Percentage of high risk long stay residents with pressure ulcers
- Percentage of long stay residents experiencing one or more falls with major injury
- Percentage of long stay residents assessed and appropriately given the seasonal influenza vaccine
- Percentage of long stay residents assessed and appropriately given the pneumococcal vaccine
- Percentage of long stay residents who received an antipsychotic medication
- Percentage of long-stay residents who have an increased need for help with daily activities
- Percentage of long-stay residents who received an anti-anxiety or hypnotic medication
The Pennsylvania Health Care Association (PHCA) remains supportive of the QIP –– including additional quality metrics –– and has prioritized these eight quality measures to serve as the standard for education and quality initiatives performed by the association.
To access the dashboard, click here.
