Nutrition and Hydration Awareness in the Nursing Home
Nursing Homes
101
My Patient Guide
Guiding you every step of the way.
For Immediate Release: Monday, September 18, 2000
Contact: CMS Office of Public Affairs 202-690-6145
HCFA LAUNCHES NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO TRAIN NURSING HOME WORKERS TO PREVENT WEIGHT LOSS, DEHYDRATION AMONG RESIDENTS
Expanding its national campaign to improve the quality of care for residents, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) this month is sending nursing homes new educational materials to teach front-line workers how to prevent unintended weight loss and dehydration.
All of the nearly 17,000 nursing homes that care for Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries will receive "Nutrition and Hydration Care: A Fact Pac for Nursing Home Administrators and Managers." HCFA, the federal agency that administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs, worked with industry groups and resident advocates to develop the training materials as part of an aggressive initiative to better protect residents launched by President Clinton in 1998. The President announced the awareness campaign in his weekly radio address on Saturday.
"Too many nursing home residents suffer from preventable weight loss and dehydration that can seriously worsen their health," HCFA Administrator Nancy-Ann DeParle said. "We have to do something about it, and these new materials will help."
The Fact Pac provides nursing home administrators and directors of nursing with useful information about weight loss and dehydration among nursing home residents. The materials include "Watch, Report, Take Action" guides for certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and other front-line caregivers, which HCFA developed with input from more than 100 workers at 20 nursing homes around the country. The guides help staff identify when a resident is at risk for unintended weight loss and dehydration, then outlines specific actions staff can take to reduce the risk before it becomes serious or life-threatening.
People who reside in nursing homes are often at risk for unintended weight loss and dehydration due to reduced activity, loss of appetite, chronic diseases, sensory loss, difficulty swallowing and other factors. Poor nutrition and dehydration increase the risks for infections and affects the independence and quality of life for people living in nursing homes.
The "Watch Report Take Action" guides are based on the successful "Nutrition Care Alerts," which were developed by the Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI), a coalition involving the American Dietetic Association, the American Association of Family Physicians and the National Council on Aging. HCFA helped to test the alerts at nursing homes last year.
HCFA's other partners in this initiative include the Administration on Aging, as well as the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, the American Health Care Association, the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, and the American Medical Directors Association and Foundation.
"By working together with nursing homes, physicians and advocates, we can better assure that nursing homes provide quality care and a safe environment for all Americans," DeParle said. "We owe it to residents and their families to prevent problems where we can and address them quickly when they occur. This campaign compliments our other efforts to improve the care provided to residents."
The new awareness campaign extends the Clinton administration's aggressive initiative to improve enforcement of federal and state standards and to promote quality care for 1.6 million elderly and disabled nursing home residents across the country. Since 1998, HCFA has strengthened the inspection process to focus more on preventing bedsores, malnutrition and resident abuse, and now requires tougher sanctions against nursing homes that repeatedly violate health and safety requirements. HCFA also created Nursing Home Compare, at www.medicare.gov, to give consumers a simple way to compare inspection reports, staffing data and other information about individual nursing homes around the country.
HCFA will make additional copies of the "Watch Report Take Action" guides available to nursing homes and others. An order form is available at www.hcfa.gov/pubforms/pubpti.htm.
Nursing Homes
Nursing Homes
