Federal Agency To Conduct Three Studies on Assisted Living
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will fund a yearlong $150,000 effort to research assisted living through three studies that will measure state regulation and consumer satisfaction with the industry, USA Today reports. The studies will include an analysis of how each state regulates assisted living facilities and alerts consumers to oversight results. The analysis will be conducted by the not-for-profit National Academy for State Health Policy. The effort also will include a review of existing programs that measure the available information and satisfaction levels for assisted living consumers, as well as a series of focus groups that will be conducted by a yet-to-be-selected group. The study results are expected to be released next year.
William Spector, a senior social scientist with AHRQ, said, "There's a pretty well-known gap of information that needs to be filled. ... My understanding is that some states may not be doing very much; they don't have a lot of resources." Spector added that the studies would ask, "What do people want to know about assisted living? What are the things they needed that could have helped them make a better choice?" David Kyllo -- executive director of the National Center for Assisted Living, which also is conducting focus groups to examine assisted living services -- said the studies "should be useful for consumers" (McCoy, USA Today, 9/21).