Seniors For Living

Introducing the NSLTCP, short for the National Study of Long-Term Care Providers. It’s a relatively new initiative from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committed to gathering information from the long-term care field for planning and policymaking purposes (i.e. monitoring trends, estimating use of services, supply and demand of providers, and more).

Because the field is very diverse and changing almost daily, the study will include data from surveys distributed to home health agencies, hospices, nursing homes, adult day services centers, and residential care communities, such as assisted living.

As of 2012, data will be collected every other year, says the CDC article describing the initiative. The first official report, compiling the 2012 study results, is scheduled for release later this year.

How will consumers seeking these services — and seniors residing in these settings — benefit from the data? Per the CDC, the NSLTCP establishes benchmarks for providers to compare their communities, centers and care to similar providers. This in turn should impact the quality of care received by the seniors they serve.

Want more numbers? Check out Assisted Living Care Costs to compare the annual and monthly costs of adult day centers, assisted living homes and other senior care services nationwide. For stats on who resides in assisted living and other care settings, check out Who’s In Assisted Living?.

Your turn: What kind of data about senior care communities and services would you like to see? When evaluating a provider or care setting, what is most important to you when making a decision?