Nancy Zionts Presents to DOH, OIG on Challenges Facing Nursing Homes

On August 22, Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) Chief Operating Officer/Chief Program Officer Nancy Zionts, MBA presented "Quality and Safety in Skilled Nursing" at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Cross-Component Nursing Home Workshop.

Decades of OIG work on nursing homes has uncovered widespread challenges in providing safe, high-quality care. Its audits, evaluations, and investigations have raised concerns regarding staffing levels, background checks for employees, reporting of adverse events experienced by residents, and other issues.

During her presentation, Zionts detailed JHF's aging agenda, including its 25-plus years working to make progress in policy and practice in senior care.

Zionts discussed the challenges faced at the frontline in nursing homes, including but not limited to workforce shortages, patient autonomy, operating in a financially unsustainable model, increased nursing home closures, persistent safety and quality issues, calling it "a balancing act."

She also outlined that these challenges were made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, as can be seen in the JHF award-winning documentary film What COVID-19 Exposed in Long-Term Care.