A Quality Improvement Consultative Program to Improve Care in North Carolina’s Adult Care and Family Care Homes

Ensuring quality of care and quality of life in North Carolina’s Adult Care and Family Care Homes has become an important focus for our state’s legislators. North Carolina Session Law 2005-276 instructed the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division of Aging and Adult Services to develop and pilot test a quality improvement program in up to four counties.

The Division of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) and The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence (CCME) will conduct a pilot test in four North Carolina counties:

Alamance
Buncombe
Nash
Rutherford

The Adult Care Home (ACH) Quality Improvement Consultation Program is an 11-month pilot program that pairs an Adult Care or Family Care Home with a trained Quality Improvement Consultant (QIC) based in a county’s Department of Social Services. Together, homes and consultants are improving safety, quality of care, and quality of life for residents.

A Focus on Medication Safety

From April 2007 through February 2008, participating homes are working on the quality improvement topic of medication safety. They are working to ensure that residents:

Receive medications correctly.
Receive medications on time.
Receive medications with respect.

How Does the Program Work?

Homes receive regular support and assistance from their QIC to develop and achieve their quality improvement goals. Homes use the program’s Medication Safety Quality Improvement Toolkit to:

Collect information about the home’s medication systems (policies, orders, labels, storage, etc.) and efforts to administer medications in a safe, timely, and respectful way.
Analyze this information, set priorities, and develop a Quality Improvement Action Plan.
Regularly evaluate progress toward their quality improvement goals to strengthen medication safety and enhance residents’ dignity and privacy.

For more details about this program, see Frequently Asked Questions. If you have additional questions, please email us at achqi@thecarolinascenter.org.