PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s nursing homes did well in the second annual statewide survey on resident and family satisfaction, with 92 percent of residents and 90 percent of family members rating their nursing home care as “good” or “excellent.”
The Rhode Island nursing homes outperformed nursing homes nationwide that used the same survey in 2007; the national average was 86 percent of residents and 83 percent of family members rating their homes “good” or “excellent.”
“These comparative data show how well Rhode Island nursing homes are doing in making improvements that focus on quality of life and the individual choices of residents,” said Dr. David R. Gifford, the state health director, in a news release.
“The value of these reports to the public,” Gifford added, “is that they allow people to provide feedback to nursing homes and they give them information to make the right choices for their families.”
Gail Patry, director of long-term care at Quality Partners of Rhode Island, which has been working closely with nursing homes to improve the quality of care, noted that the survey results, along with publicly available quality measure scores, can help consumers “make informed choices when selecting a nursing home.”
The survey results are available as two reports on the R.I. Department of Health’s Web site: The 2007 Nursing Home Satisfaction Report, and the Supplemental Information report.
The first report provides information for consumers to use when choosing a nursing home, including resident and family satisfaction with each individual nursing home. The Supplemental Information details the survey process and comparative results that demonstrate how Rhode Island nursing homes performed compared with other nursing homes using the same survey firm, My InnerView Inc., of Wisconsin.
My InnerView Inc. has compiled the largest database about resident and family and employee satisfaction in America’s nursing homes, according to the news release. In 2007, My InnerView surveyed 27,397 residents and 118,985 family members in 4,116 nursing homes across the country. In Rhode Island, My InnerView surveyed 1,202 residents and 2,075 family members in 92 nursing homes with long-stay residents across the state.
The Rhode Island reports were created for the Health Care Quality Performance Measurement and Reporting Program, mandated by a state law passed in 1998. The legislation requires public reporting of clinical performance measures and patient satisfaction for all Rhode Island licensed health care facilities and providers.
The project involves a collaboration between all the licensed nursing homes in Rhode Island; the Rhode Island Health Care Association; the Rhode Island Association of Facilities and Services for the Aging; the Alliance for Better Long Term Care; the R.I. Department of Human Services; the R.I. Department of Elderly Affairs; the R.I. Long Term Care Coordinating Council; and Quality Partners, the R.I. Department of Health’s contractor. My InnerView Inc. administered the surveys.
The reports are available at www.health.ri.gov.
