New Jersey's nursing homes get high marks

When nursing homes have been the topic of news articles, the press coverage typically has not been positive. Fortunately, New Jersey nursing homes are presenting a strong reason to turn this around. Nursing homes throughout New Jersey earned a fourth-place ranking nationwide for management of pain, according to data from October-December 2005 that is posted on Nursing Home Compare. This Web site, accessible through www.medicare.gov, serves as a tool for families to use when choosing nursing homes for their long-term care needs. This impressive achievement was accomplished through an ongoing partnership with Healthcare Quality Strategies Inc., (HQSI), New Jersey's Medicare-designated quality improvement organization (QIO); nursing homes; and stakeholders.

We are proud of our joint accomplishments with the nursing homes and stakeholders throughout New Jersey. These impressive data serve as solid proof that by working together, HQSI, health care providers, and stakeholders can continue to significantly enhance the quality of care for nursing home residents, as well as Medicare beneficiaries in other health care settings, throughout our state.

We launched our partnership with nursing homes as part of our contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CMS sponsors the national Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI), which is implemented by a QIO in each state, as well as Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. In addition to improving management of pain, the goals of NHQI are to decrease use of physical restraints, reduce risk and development of pressure ulcers and improve management of depression. The depression measure was added recently to the NHQI objectives, and New Jersey nursing homes currently rank third nationwide, according to the data on Nursing Home Compare.

In addition, HQSI and other QIOs are implementing similar CMS-sponsored projects with hospitals, home health agencies, and physician offices. We implement all of these quality initiatives by providing information, tools, resources and consultative services to enable providers to deliver the highest quality of care. These partnerships contribute to substantial improvements not only in clinical issues, but also in the use of health information technology.

For additional information about HQSI and the national quality initiatives, please call us at (732) 238-5570, send an e-mail to cmiller@njqio.sdps.org, or visit our Web site at www.hqsi.org.

Martin P. Margolies

Chief Executive Officer Healthcare Quality

Strategies Inc.

East Brunswick