Emerging Initiatives

AAHSA ACTION Long-Term Care Network

The AAHSA ACTION (Accelerating Change and Transformation in Organizations and Networks) initiative is part of a program developed by the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research to promote innovation in health care delivery. This will be accomplished by accelerating the development, implementation, diffusion and uptake of demand-driven and evidence-based products, tools and strategies.

The goal is to turn research into practice by linking many of the nation's largest health care systems with its top health services researchers.

IFAS is the prime contractor for the ACTION LTC Network, which includes:

• Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society
• International Severity Information Systems/Institute for Clinical Outcomes Research
• University of Kansas Medical Center's Center on Aging
• Penn State Center for Health Care and Policy Research
• Quality Partners of Rhode Island

Funder: Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research

Contact Helaine Resnick about this project

The National Nursing Home Survey

AAHSA staff will be conducting ongoing analysis of the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey. This survey is a public use data set that collected information on a representative sample of 1,174 U.S. nursing homes and 13,507 residents of these facilities. Topics of current analyses include:

• The prevalence of correlates of diabetes among United States nursing homes residents
• The under diagnosis of sleep apnea among United States nursing home residents
• The prevalence and types of advanced directives among United States nursing home residents
• Characteristics of United States nursing home residents who are admitted to emergency departments

Contact Helaine Resnick about this project

The National Nursing Assistant Survey

In addition to current reports on U.S. nursing homes and their residents, additional analyses are being conducted on the National Nursing Assistant Survey, the first nationally representative survey of nursing assistants. Topics of current analyses on this survey include:

• Comparisons between US- and foreign-born nursing assistants and differences between these groups in perceptions of nursing supervisors
• The role of language and culture of nursing assistants in relation to job satisfaction.
• Facility ownership status in relation to nursing assistants' job satisfaction

Contact Janice Heineman about this project

Advanced Directives and Emergency Department Admissions

IFAS staff are collaborating with health services researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital to examine how well or poorly advanced directives are transported with nursing home residents who are admitted to emergency departments. This project is being developed in part to explore how well specific aspects of the Patient Self-Determination Act have been operationalized in practice.

Contact Helaine Resnick about this project

Utility of the Short Physical Performance Battery in Subsidized Housing

IFAS staff are exploring ways to utilize a well-established physical performance battery as a tool for assessment of high risk elders living in subsidized housing. IFAS staff will be developing a pilot study in collaboration with Washington, DC area housing providers to generate pilot data in preparation for submission of a larger proposal on this topic.

Contact Helaine Resnick about this project

Novel Approaches to addressing obesity and diabetes in subsidized housing

IFAS staff are working with researchers from Temple University to identify novel ways to address the disabling effects of obesity and diabetes among elders living in low income housing. A pilot study is planned for the coming year to collect preliminary data that will help shed light on key issues related to these health conditions and how harnessing assistance of the Service Coordinator may provide a novel approach to obesity and diabetes management in this setting.

Contact Helaine Resnick about this project

International Workforce Issues

IFAS is collaborating with the International Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (IAHSA) on an initiative to examine the global impact of our aging world on the demand for, supply of and quality of the long-term care workforce. Special attention is focused on the role of aging services providers in shaping ethical recruitment and retention policies and sharing best practices across countries. Learn more

Contact Robyn Stone about this project