As a nationally recognized expert in nursing home care quality, CARE Director Barbara Bowers, PhD, RN, was asked to join the 2015 Pennsylvania Nursing Home Quality Improvement Task Force.
This two year project, convened by Pennsylvania Governor Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, resulted in a number of recommendations to the Governor and Department of Health.
The task force recommended all Pennsylvania nursing homes should be striving to implement person centered care and culture change, and policies should support implementation of the most promising culture change practices. Another important recommendation was to consider minimum staffing requirements across the nursing care team (CNAs, LPNs, RNs), nursing continuing education requirements matched with incentives, and demonstration of competency.
