On July 10th CMS hosted a National Provider Call that focused on the goal of improving dementia care in nursing homes. This National Partnership is focused on care that is person-centered, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary. During the call, care approaches that are person-centered and individualized were highlighted, and facility systems and tools to enhance care were discussed.
Shari Ling, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at CMS, stated that the partnership promotes the 3 “R”s to providing quality dementia care:
Rethink – rethink our approaches to dementia care
Reconnect – reconnect with people using person-centered care approaches
Restore – restore good health and quality of life in nursing homes across the country
CMS will measure our success in making these critical changes during our survey process, and by measuring our use of psychotropic medications in persons with dementia. Dementia care and psychotropic use is sure to be a focus for our annual surveys as our industry raised the bar to provide a higher quality of care for this fragile population.
During this inspiring National Provider Call, Dr. Laura Gitlin, a researcher at John Hopkins University and the Director of the Center for Innovative Care on Aging, presented findings on the use of an OT driven treatment intervention called a Tailored Activity Program (TAP). Recent research has shown that the Tailored Activity Program was effective in reducing behavioral symptoms in persons with dementia. The process is very similar to what we have put into place in some of our facilities using our integrated cognitive care approaches. In the next edition of the Flag POST, we will be sharing how some of these integrated care programs are coming to life in our facilities as we work with our clinical partners to individualize the programs for each facility.