NURSING HOME QUALITY COALITION AWARDED $1.69 MILLION TO IMPROVE RESIDENT QUALITY OF LIFE

Grant helps improve nursing home resident quality of life by amplifying the voice of residents and direct care staff

WASHINGTON, July 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition received a $1.69 million grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) to continue its work to improve nursing home resident quality of life and to support staff for the next three years.

The Coalition is a network of 1,600+ nursing home residents, care partners, staff, advocates, and others who are developing, testing, and promoting policies and practices to address common challenges in nursing homes. The challenges were outlined in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's 2022 report, The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality.

"Any effort to improve the quality of nursing home care must empower residents within their communities," said Margaret Barajas, Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Ombudsman and Moving Forward Coalition Steering Committee Member. "With this grant, we can coordinate resources, scale partnerships, and effectively create nursing homes that foster a culture of resident engagement."

The Coalition has spurred improvements in nursing home quality, including collaboration with the federal Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program to include a focus on developing apprenticeships for direct care workers; brought attention to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's role in financing nursing home quality improvement; and worked with Michigan's state survey agency to train nursing home surveyors on person-centered care.

 Over the next three years, the Coalition plans to:

• Develop and test a certified nursing assistant apprenticeship program to build and strengthen the nursing home workforce;
• Provide nursing home staff with tools and a process to identify and prioritize "what matters" most to residents;
• Empower residents to create and strengthen a Resident Council that advocates for change and improvements within their nursing home; and
• Convene stakeholders, experts, and policymakers to identify the most promising paths forward for nursing home quality improvement.

"New practices and policies that enhance nursing home care are taking root thanks to the Moving Forward Coalition, and that benefits everyone," said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, president of JAHF. "The Coalition's work shows that a broad set of partners from both the public and private sectors can work together to improve nursing home care and create a sustainable platform for driving change."

The Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition is funded by JAHF and draws on leadership from LeadingAge, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and other national organizations and advisors.

About the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition
The Moving Forward Coalition is a diverse group of individuals and organizations that came together in July 2022 to prioritize recommendations from the 2022 National Academies report on nursing home quality. The Coalition's purpose is to develop and promote action plans to address those priorities in partnership with national, state, and local organizations, including professional associations, nursing home providers, clinicians, researchers, advocates, long-term care Ombudsmen, Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organizations, and others. The Coalition is funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation, a national philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. More than 2,000 people have signed up as Coalition participants at movingforwardcoalition.org.

CONTACT: Gisela Rosende, [email protected], (786) 239-8679

SOURCE The Moving Forward Coalition