Individualized Care Project

The State Survey Agency for Rhode Island, a program in the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Office of Facilities Regulation, conducted an Individualized Care Pilot (ICP) as part of the standard federal and state recertification survey at 51 Rhode Island nursing homes between November 1, 2007 and April 30, 2008. Planning for the project commenced in December 2006 and final products were completed in December 2008.The project findings are of potential interest to: nursing home administrators, State Survey Agencies, federal regulators, culture change coalitions, nursing home residents and their families, long-term care researchers, and public policy makers.

The Individualized Care Pilot project was developed with support from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and with funding in part from The Commonwealth Fund. HEALTH’s educational partner for the project was Quality Partners of Rhode Island. The purpose of the project was to “use the mandated regulatory process to motivate and enable all nursing homes to fully realize the potential for resident-centered care inherent in the Nursing Home Reform Law…(OBRA’87).” It sought to promote individualized, resident-centered quality of care and quality of life for nursing home residents by:

• Disseminating understanding and awareness among nursing home providers, survey agency staff, nursing home residents, and other stakeholders about how federal and state regulations support and mandate implementation of individualized, resident-centered care in order to achieve the highest practicable physical, mental, and psycho-social well-being for each nursing home resident;
• Supporting implementation of practices that meet regulatory requirements and accomplish individualized resident-centered care in three key areas: Resident-Directed Choice; Staff-Resident Relationships;
  Personalized Environment.

Results from the project include Recommendationa and Dilemas, and final products that can be utilized or adopted by others.

Thanks to. . .

The project is grateful to the Technical Expert Panel members who provided advice during the design of the pilot and to the National Advisory Panel members who provided feedback during the implementation phase and formulation of the Individualized Care Pilot TOOLBOX.