Three area nursing homes are among more than 100 across Minnesota kicking off projects to promote better care and quality of life for their residents.
The projects, funded by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, range from efforts to improve mental health and social connections to reducing falls and infections.
Local projects receiving funds through the state’s Performance-based Incentive Payment Program are:
Aicota Health Care Center, Aitkin, $20,264 to enhance pain management by focusing on short stay residents or those with cognitive limitations for expressing pain.
LakeWood Care Center, Staples, $11,321 to develop and implement a life enrichment program for residents with dementia.
Lakewood Health System, Staples, $26,054 to implement a restorative sleep program.
At $6.7 million per year, the Performance-based Incentive Payment Program provides up to 5% in additional operating payments to nursing homes throughout the state. The program lets nursing homes dedicate resources to quality improvement and requires them to meet specific goals related to care, resident quality of life, workforce and other issues. Since 2006, the program has funded more than 300 projects. Eighty percent of Minnesota nursing homes have participated.
“Collectively, these performance improvement projects make a big difference and improve the lives of thousands of nursing home residents,” said Minnesota Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead in a news release. “We’ve seen ground-breaking improvements in areas like resident sleep quality and falls prevention. Nursing facility staff are invested in making improvements and excited about sharing successes with their peers.”
