Assuring & improving the quality of in-home services

Long-term care represents the interface between health care and social services and thus includes a multitude of services and staff that deliver long-term assistance. The range of services, consumers, and environmental circumstances under the home care umbrella creates a considerable challenge for both providers and regulators. This article examines five principles to assure high-quality care: Know your customers, listen to your customers, collect good information for decision-making, understand that the group is smarter than the individual, and realize that sub-optimization is a critical challenge facing organizations.