The National Quality Forum completed an overhaul of its endorsed nursing home quality measures with the release of 21 newly endorsed measures that will take the place of 17 existing measures that will be retired.
NQF endorses 21 nursing home measures
The new endorsed measures are designed to address “falls, infections, pressure ulcers, and the general health of residents and patients,” according to a news release from the NQF. They will be used in the CMS’ Nursing Home Compare, a consumer database of more than 17,000 nursing homes. The project was funded by HHS.
The organization’s Steering Committee on Nursing Homes, which oversaw the revamp, was co-chaired by Dr. David Gifford, newly named senior vice president of quality and regulatory affairs at the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, and Christine Mueller, professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing and co-director of its Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence. The measures to be retired were introduced in 2004.
The NQF made the changes in order to put some existing measures in compliance with the NQF’s data collection instrument, and also to enhance the information for consumers when choosing and monitoring a nursing home, said Helen Burstin, senior vice president of performance measures for the NQF.
Anyone can request reconsideration of the 21 endorsed measures by contacting the NQF no later than April 1.
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