By Geralyn Magan
LeadingAge learned a great deal during 2016 when it used 5 different surveys to collect information about its members. A new report summarizes major findings from the surveys.
LeadingAge members are generally well-established organizations that operate in more than one service setting, employ their own W-2 staff members, and have taken deliberate steps to keep pace with current trends in the field of long-term services and supports (LTSS).
These are only a few of the facts that LeadingAge learned during 2016 when it used 5 different surveys to collect information about its members. Members responding to the surveys represented:
- 634 chief executives.
- 188 nursing homes.
- 203 residential care communities.
- 134 providers of home and community-based services (HCBS).
- 172 providers of affordable, market-rate, mixed-rental, and other rental housing communities.
“Our goal was to gather much-needed information about nonprofit providers of aging services, and to help LeadingAge better understand its members so it could better serve them,” says a new report about the survey findings.
Here’s a brief overview of some of the survey findings. More details about the survey findings are included in A Portrait of our Members: Highlights from the 2016 LeadingAge Provider Services Surveys.
Members are Established and Expanding
LeadingAge members are generally well-established organizations that have been operating, on average, for 56 years.
Member organizations often were established as nursing homes or independent living communities, and subsequently expanded to provide other services. Ninety-four percent of members reported that they had grown or expanded in various ways during the past 5 years.
Members Operate in Multiple Settings
Many LeadingAge members operate in more than one service setting, including:
- Nursing homes (63%).
- Assisted living communities (48%).
- Personal care homes (20%).
- Independent living communities (59%).
- HCBS (61%).
Members Employ their Own W-2 Staff
LeadingAge members generally employ their own W-2 staff members, rather than paying contract employees. On average:
- Nursing homes employ registered nurses (74%), licensed practical nurses/licensed vocational nurses (75%), and certified nursing aides/nursing assistants (74%) on a full-time basis.
- More than one-quarter of assisted living/personal care homes have a director on site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- At least two-thirds of affordable, market-rate, and mixed-rental housing communities reported having an onsite resident services coordinator.
Members Respond to Current Trends
The Provider Services Surveys gauged how LeadingAge members have responded to current trends in the health care and LTSS fields, including health reform, culture change, and housing-health partnerships. For example:
- LeadingAge members are responding to health reform by refining their quality measures (36%), partnering with a group purchasing organization (24%) or accountable care organization (14%), participating in other shared savings initiatives (14%), and taking numerous other actions.
- Nursing home members are exceeding national averages for complete and partial adoption of culture change.
- A clear majority of LeadingAge housing providers across all rental types reported collaborating with home health agencies, hospitals, and primary care practices.
About the New Report
A Portrait of Our Members was prepared by researchers at the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston (formerly the LeadingAge Center for Applied Research).
The LTSS Center, a collaboration of LeadingAge and the University of Massachusetts Boston, conducts research aimed at transforming the way LTSS are financed, delivered, and experienced by older adults and their families. The LTSS Center, which has offices in Washington, DC and Boston, MA, combines the expertise of applied and academic researchers with the unique perspectives of LTSS providers and consumers. Researchers work closely with the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation at Community Catalyst, a policy center focused on consumer needs.
Visit www.LeadingAge.org/Center-applied-research to learn more about the Center’s work.