Wonder

QIO Health Care Consulting Trends

Delivered March 3, 2020. Contributor: Heather B.

Goals

To identify 2-3 recent or emerging trends in QIO health care consulting with a focus on nursing homes (assisted living, home health) as available.

Early Findings

Our research on QIO health care consulting trends that focus on nursing homes and/or assisted living/home health revealed insights. Here are key pieces of information we found:
QIO Health Care Consulting TrendsA recent trend in QIO health care consulting is antibiotic stewardship in nursing homes to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria by increasing awareness of the importance of proper antibiotic use and delivering technical assistance that builds the capacity of outpatient providers to monitor, reduce and prevent the misuse of antibiotics. 
Another recent trend in QIO health care consulting in nursing homes is to help to decrease the use of antipsychotic medications to treat dementia that is resulting in fewer long-stay nursing home residents who are receiving unnecessary antipsychotic medications.
An emerging trend in QIO health care consulting is the increasing use of the Patient Activation Measure® (PAM®) tool in nursing homes and home health agencies that has a set of progressively difficult questions that indicate a person’s level of abilities, from understanding their responsibility to care for themselves to sticking to routines even in times of stress and duress.

Proposed next steps:

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We recommend additional research to provide 2-3 examples of QIO health care consultants and agencies who are improving quality of care in nursing homes to include: the specific name of the consultant or agency, where they are located, what they are doing, and any success metrics for a more in-depth report.

We also recommend additional research for 5-7 insights on what QIO health care consultants and agencies are doing to improve independence and quality of life for the elderly population (65+ years old) for a more in-depth report.