NCAL has announced a new partnership with CarePrepare™ to offer assisted living members access to state survey inspection data. NCAL is incorporating the data into its data tracking software, LTC Trend Tracker. Inspection reports from Virginia are among those included in the initial data set.

“An assisted living community’s state survey is an important indicator of its overall performance, but it is even more meaningful when providers can see how their survey compares to the rest of the state,” said Scott Tittle, NCAL Executive Director. “When providers are aware of how their peers are doing, it further incentivizes quality improvement and survey compliance. We are proud to partner with CarePrepare™ to offer assisted living providers more information that will enhance the lives of residents and help providers stay competitive.”

Survey inspection data varies among states, as each regulates assisted living and residential care communities. CarePrepare™ compiles the data from available state regulatory websites and through requests to state agencies. CarePrepare™ then classifies the raw survey findings into main categories and sub-categories to allow for a meaningful understanding of performance within the state. LTC Trend Tracker will offer aggregate results for up to eight main categories: administration, dietary, environment, life safety, quality of care, resident satisfaction, staff training, and other.

Currently, survey data from 29 states will be incorporated into LTC Trend Tracker, covering 85 percent of assisted living facilities, with more states soon to be added. Assisted living users will receive the data through an existing quarterly report generated by the software, offering their community’s performance on the main categories of survey deficiency in relation to the state average, among other quality and performance data.

“CarePrepare™ is excited to partner with NCAL to share new state benchmarks and regulatory outcome insights with their members through LTC Trend Tracker,” said Jessica Curtis, Managing Director at Formation Healthcare, co-founders of CarePrepare™. “Understanding each state’s unique trends and regulatory environment is key to monitoring progress and having meaningful conversations around issues impacting person-centered care.”

LTC Trend Tracker is a web-based software tool available at no additional cost to members of NCAL and its sister organization, AHCA. In addition to the CarePrepare™ data, assisted living organizations can upload data on seven quality measures, such as customer satisfaction and hospital readmissions, and then generate reports to track, benchmark, and compare their organization to other AL communities nationwide. Currently, more than 1,500 member communities utilize the software. To learn more about LTC Trend Tracker, please visit www.ltctrendtracker.com.