One-third of long-term care executives believe the new QIS process to improve quality of care

As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services roll out the new nursing home Quality Indicator Survey process to states around the country, a new poll reveals more than one-third of long-term care executives believe the new QIS process will improve their quality of care. But they're uncertain how long it will take to make an impact. Thirty four percent of the more than 100 nursing home executives polled at the American Health Care Association's (AHCA) annual convention held this week in Chicago, said they were "unsure" when asked "At what point do you feel QIS will improve the quality of care at your facility?"

Conducted by Medline Industries, Inc., the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of healthcare supplies, the survey also revealed that 62 percent of respondents said that improving the quality of care their residents was their most important issue right now. Nineteen percent said that understanding and performing well on the QIS survey was most important, followed by 12 percent who cited healthcare reform to be of highest importance and five percent who named obtaining a high Five Star rating as most important.

Currently, there are 14 states in the training program for statewide rollout of QIS, which is designed to improve the quality of care and provide a more resident-centered focus than the traditional state survey.

"What the survey shows is that long-term care providers believe the QIS process will help them improve the quality of care for their residents but because it is so new and different than the traditional process, they are unsure what changes it will bring and how long it will take to see real benefits," said Shawn Scott, Medline's vice president of corporate sales. "By obtaining training in the QIS methods and using the QIS approach, nursing homes are finding that the QIS process not only helps in preparing for the survey but forms a year-round quality assurance program to improve resident care."

Scott points out that although there are a number of new tools on the market to help providers prepare for QIS, only one, called abaqis®, exactly replicates the methods and procedures of the QIS survey. Medline is the exclusive marketer and distributor of the abaqis Nursing Home Quality Assurance System.

Abaqis is a web-based system that enables nursing home providers to identify quality concerns and focus their improvement efforts using the same forms, analysis and thresholds used by the state surveyors in the QIS.