American Health Care Association (AHCA)
President and CEO Mark Parkinson joined association members in a recent meeting
with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tom Price, M.D., to
discuss challenges the long term care profession faces as the nation’s
population ages and the importance of maintaining access to quality long term
care.
AHCA members discussed with Secretary Price
the need for responsible regulation that supports and incentivizes quality
improvement. Recent regulatory changes impose both redundant and unnecessary
stipulations on providers and are not focused on improving care at the bedside.
AHCA members specifically noted that some of the practices detailed in the
Requirements of Participation, which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) issued last October, interfere with person-centered care and
day-to-day operations.
Secretary Price and AHCA members also
discussed significant improvements in key quality measures across the long term
care profession. In 2012, the Association launched its Quality Initiative,
which challenges providers to improve key quality performance measures. Since
the Initiative’s inception, member providers have successfully prevented more
than 79,000 individuals from returning to the hospital within 30 days of their
skilled nursing center stay and have reached or surpassed a nationwide goal in
safely reducing antipsychotic usage by at least 30 percent.
Members in attendance at the meeting with
Secretary Price included Tom Coble, Chair of AHCA Board of Governors, and
President and CEO of Elmbrook Management Company; Bob Hagan, President of
Sterling Healthcare, Inc.; Neil Pruitt, Jr., Chairman and CEO of PruittHealth.
(L-R): Neil
Pruitt, Jr., Mike Cheek, Bob Hagan, Secretary Tom Price, Tom Coble, Mark
Parkinson, and Dr. David Gifford
