Lake Ridge Care Center Showcased by Pioneer Network for Quality Improvement

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Jodi Boyne

When Lake Ridge Care Center in Buffalo found itself close to the bottom of the rankings in Minnesota on the Quality Measure for Percent of Residents who were Walking as Well or Better, they set out to improve that score.

By thinking outside of the box, leveraging existing programs, and starting a Boogie Bingo, Lake Ridge improved its ranking by 130 spots and enhanced relationships among residents and staff. This success story was recently shared by the Pioneer Network in the lead up to its national conference, Pioneering a New Culture of Aging.

Performance improvement must revolve around person-centered care. With the new Phase 3 requirements in full swing the focus on Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) is a focal point for all care centers. But even those in Assisted Living and other aging services settings can benefit from initiatives that support person-centered care, improve quality, and embed performance improvement across an organization.

As the Pioneer Network points out, QAPI needs to come out of the meeting room and into the neighborhood, into huddles and any place the residents and care team may be. When QAPI really happens closest to the resident, it has been found to be effective, amazing and even fun. That can all happen when you find the “not so secret ingredient,” person centered care.

Team members from Stratis Health, the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) in Minnesota have been working diligently with nursing homes on QAPI. They’ll be sharing their work and outcomes at the 2019 Pioneering a New Culture of Aging Conference in August and shared the Lake Ridge Care Center as one success story as a preview to their presentation.

To read more about the success at Lake Ridge Care Center, see Person-Centered Care: The Not So Secret Ingredient in Your Next Performance Improvement Plan.