Improving assisted living care

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Healthcare Management
• Service Quality Research

Background:

• The assisted living industry lacks a national quality measurement system.
• Private vendors provide essential satisfaction measurement and improvement services.
• These services are crucial for the industry's quality improvement movement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify customer-prioritized areas for service enhancement in assisted living facilities.
• To analyze resident and family feedback for actionable quality improvement insights.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of survey responses from 175 resident-family dyads.
• Data collected from 20 assisted living facilities.
• Focus on customer perspectives to determine service improvement priorities.

Main Results:

• Key areas for improvement identified: care from aides and management, meal services, and organized activities.
• Customer feedback provides a clear direction for quality enhancement initiatives.
• Practical solutions for addressing identified issues are presented.

Conclusions:

• Addressing resident and family-identified priorities can significantly improve assisted living quality.
• Customer-centric feedback is essential for effective service improvement in assisted living.
• Private vendors play a key role in facilitating these improvements through data analysis.