The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, based in Cambridge, Mass., was founded in 1991with the goal of providing safe and effective healthcare to everyone by improving the healthcare delivery system and maintaining good health. Patient-centered care is at the heart of IHI’s mission. Jeff Selberg, MHA, IHI’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, discusses patient-centered care and the organization’s commitment to it.
Has concern for the physical safety of an aging population hijacked the attention that should be paid to their emotional and spiritual needs? Karen Schoeneman, MPA, the deputy director of the nursing home division of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Heidi Gil, NHA, the director of continuing care at Planetree, discuss what some advocates for the elderly are calling “surplus safety” and whether it can diminish the sense of dignity and community that is so important to the well-being of the elderly.
Last year’s healthcare reform legislation continues to be a hot topic wherever and whenever healthcare professionals gather. Two of the best known and most vocal advocates for the elderly—Jennie Chin Hansen, CEO of the American Geriatrics Society and winner of the 2011 Picker Award for Excellence® in Long-Term Care, and Dr. Bill Thomas, founder of the Eden Alternative® and the Green House Project® and winner of the 2009 Picker Award in long-term care—trade views on what has and has not changed over the past year and what the future holds.