Group to hold public listening sessions throughout the state in the coming weeks
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Governor’s Nursing Home Quality and Accountability Task Force held its inaugural meeting Thursday, March 2. Governor Mike DeWine was in attendance and provided remarks to task force members and other attendees.
The task force, established through an executive order signed by Governor DeWine, has been appointed to take action on opportunities to improve the quality of care and quality of life being provided in the state’s nursing homes. During his remarks, the Governor reiterated the importance of the task force and what it is charged with accomplishing.
“I have put together – before as Attorney General and now as Governor – a number of task forces; dozens of them probably. There’s no task force that I’ve ever asked to come together that is more important than this one,” Governor DeWine said. “Over 80,000 of our fellow citizens live in our nursing homes, and we have an obligation to make sure that the quality of our nursing homes is high, and that it’s consistently high.”
“No one should misunderstand the convening of this task force to mean that we do not think that there are many good nursing homes in the state and that we are not very appreciative of the people who go to work every single day to care for the ones that we love,” Governor DeWine added. “The reality is that we cannot continue, every year, to put additional funds into nursing homes – funds that are needed – without demanding significant change in some of the nursing homes that are simply not serving their patients the way they should.”
Ohio ranked 39th in the most recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services overall Quality Star Ratings, which scores all Medicare/Medicaid-funded nursing facilities across the nation.
Ohio Department of Aging Director Ursel J. McElroy, who has been appointed Chair of the task force, led off the meeting, introducing members to each other and their mission.
“We want to create a system where no Ohioan has to be concerned about experiencing anything less than a high quality of care and a high quality of life,” Director McElroy said. “We’ve been asked to do a lot, as a task force, in a very ambitious timeframe – gain insights from residents and families, look at the data, and glean really great information from you, as experts, and others within the field, to provide a compilation of potential solutions for the State of Ohio between now and May.”
“We must be dedicated,” McElroy continued. “But I have no doubt we are up for the task.”
In the coming weeks, task force members will cross the state, conducting seven listening sessions to hear directly from nursing home residents and their loved ones about their experiences.
Listening sessions are currently scheduled to be held in the following communities:
- Youngstown (March 7)
- Cincinnati (March 16)
- Dayton (March 21)
- Columbus (March 24)
- Bowling Green (March 28)
- Nelsonville (April 6)
Cleveland (April 13)
Click here to register for a listening session near you!
The task force will also offer virtual listening sessions and an online survey for people who cannot attend an in-person event, but still want to share their experiences.
The task force will continue to hold regular meetings from March through May to discuss the public input they receive and formulate recommendations.
A full schedule of events, a list of task force members, and more information is available at aging.ohio.gov/nhtaskforce.
“We need to get the information that you’re going to gather over the next several months,” Governor DeWine said. “What you’re doing is most important, because you’re gathering the information and you’re going to come up with very tangible, actionable, specific recommendations.”
