National experts on health, consumer, and aging issues have joined to form the Long-Term Quality Alliance (LTQA) to ensure that people who need long-term services and supports receive high-quality care.

The alliance will focus on the quality of care provided in nursing homes as well as community-based settings where, according to the group, quality improvement efforts have lagged behind those in institutional settings.

“Although long-term services and supports have a major impact on health, health costs, and quality of life for millions of frail and chronically ill people, efforts to improve the quality and value of this sector, especially outside of the institutional setting, have been absent from the national health care debate,” said Alliance Chair Mary Naylor, PhD, RN, Marion S. Ware Professor in Gerontology at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing.

Emphasizing “Person-Centered” Measures

The LTQA will foster “person-centered” quality measures to enhance quality of life, reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and utilizations, and decrease costs for the 10 million people who need long-term services and supports.

The new alliance aims to advance quality measures that reflect the perspectives of consumers and their family caregivers. The group says it will promote new person-centered quality measures because, currently, long-term care quality measures have been too focused on the delivery of clinical services in nursing homes.

The alliance will focus initially on two important health care issues that have been identified as national health priorities:

• how to improve care coordination or transitions in care
• how to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions among frail and chronically ill people

Naylor says that these two areas offer the greatest promise for improving quality, consumer experiences, and efficiency, as well as reducing costs.

Representing Direct-Care Workers’ Interests

“PHI is proud to be invited to help form the founding board of the Long-Term Quality Alliance based on our expertise with the direct-care workforce — both policy and practice,” said PHI President Steven Dawson, who will serve on the LTCA board.

“I am particularly pleased that the LTQA will focus on person- and family-centered quality issues, and I will encourage the alliance to emphasize the essential role of direct-care workers within all of their initiatives,” said Dawson.

The 29-member board includes leaders from a range of organizations representing caregivers, consumers, quality improvement, nursing homes, accreditation, aging issues, foundations, the federal government, private payers, and academia.

LTQA Introduction

An informational session introducing the LTQA will take place at the conclusion of a forum called “Improving Health Care for Older Americans: Achieving Better Chronic Care at Lower Costs.” PHI President Steven Dawson will be among the speakers.

This forum will be held on January 28, 2010, at the Brookings Institution’s Falk Auditorium. It will begin at 9 am, and the LTQA introductory session is scheduled for 3:15 pm.

Prospective attendees must register in advance if they wish to attend the Brookings forum.

For more information on the LTQA session, send an email to LTQA Executive Director Douglas Pace, or call him at 202.508.9454.