Governor promotes better nursing-home care

COLUMBIA, Mo. — A statewide campaign to improve health care quality in nursing homes has been bolstered by an endorsement by the governor.

Gov. Jay Nixon has declared January 2010 as “Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Month.” Advancing Excellence is a campaign to promote common-sense approaches to improving care in nursing homes. About half of the state’s homes have signed up to participate in the campaign in the last three years.

Administered by a coalition of nursing home professionals and Primaris, a Columbia-based health care consulting firm, the campaign promotes initiatives including reducing the use of physical restraints, pain reduction and cases of pressure ulcers. Participating homes have access to free materials and resources that promote improved resident care, along with charts and other materials to track their progress.

Deborah Finley, a program director who oversees Primaris’ role in the campaign, said the governor’s endorsement will help spread the message of improving the quality of care and staff morale in Missouri’s nursing homes.

“These initiatives not only reduce the long-term cost of health care in our state, they also improve the quality of care for seniors in nursing homes, providing dignity and comfort for people,” Finley said. “Plenty of homes have signed up, but there’s plenty of room for more. We want all of the state’s homes to be a part of Advancing Excellence.”

Even those homes that have already signed up in 2009 should do so again this year to become charter members of the campaign, Finley said. For more information, interested homes should visit http://www.nhqualitycampaign.org.

About Primaris
Primaris is a nonprofit, health care consulting firm and contracts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to serve as the Quality Improvement Organization for Missouri. Primaris’ mission is to improve health care delivery and outcomes by promoting excellence, advancing knowledge and developing innovative solutions for physicians, other providers, businesses, government, patients and consumers.

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