ACL has awarded a supplemental grant for $70,000 to the National Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC) to address two critical issues in long-term care facility settings, involuntary discharges and opioids.
First, this supplemental grant will provide technical assistance and training to a group of Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs on individual and systemic approaches to remedy one of the most commonly reported problem nursing facility residents bring to Ombudsman programs – involuntary, facility-initiated discharge. The participating Ombudsman programs will convene in a learning collaborative along with designated legal assistance programs serving the same geographic areas, to engage in peer-to-peer learning, and in-depth training and technical assistance to develop complaint advocacy and legal tools. The strategies and tools developed through this project will serve as a resource for all Ombudsman programs.
The second prong of this grant will fund a short-term project to better understand long-term care facility residents’ experiences with pain management. This will include an examination of the use of opioids, causes and results of opioid misuse, and how drug diversion, and other consequences of opioid misuse by others, can impact residents. Obtaining the perspective of people living in nursing homes and residential care communities will be an integral part of this project.
Ombudsman programs play a critical advocacy and complaint resolution role in support of people living in nursing homes and residential care facilities. The programs address residents’ rights, care, and services. The NORC has a long history of providing training, technical assistance, and program management expertise to state and local Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs.