04/18/2023

Ohio Governor's Nursing Home Quality and Accountability Task Force Launches Online Survey

Ohio nursing home residents and their loved ones can now provide valuable information about the quality of nursing homes across the state from the comfort and privacy of where they live.

Today, the Ohio Governor’s Nursing Home Quality and Accountability Task Force launched an online survey to gain insights about the quality of care and quality of life being provided in nursing homes across the state.

“We want to give every Ohio nursing home resident, as well as their families and other community members ample opportunity to share their lived experiences,” said Ursel J. McElroy, Task Force Chair and Director of the Ohio Department of Aging. “While we have gained valuable insights from our recent listening sessions, we understand that attending these in-person events may not be accessible for everyone. Our online survey will allow many more Ohioans to share their stories at their convenience and will inform our efforts as a task force to make excellence the expectation for all of Ohio’s nursing homes.”

The survey allows nursing home residents – as well as their family members and caregivers, nursing home staff members and administrators, and other interested community members – the opportunity to provide written testimony to detail various aspects of their experience involving nursing homes.

The survey provides the option to comment on each of the five most common steps people experience in their journey to find and use nursing homes in Ohio:

• Selecting a Nursing Home
• Admission to a Facility
• Experience in the Facility
• Transitions of Care
• Engaging with the State

The survey also provides an opportunity for users to leave any additional general comments.

Additionally, the website provides information on the proper avenues for people who have seen or experienced abuse or neglect in a nursing home to report it, including contact information for the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, the Ohio Department of Health’s Complaint Unit, and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Insights gained from the online survey will be integrated with commentary provided at recent in-person listening sessions held across the state. Read more about each of these listening sessions on the Ohio Governor’s Nursing Home Quality and Accountability Task Force website.

To further encourage participation across the state from individuals who have been unable to attend one of the in-person listening sessions, the task force will hold additional virtual listening sessions this month, including a tele-town hall event hosted by AARP Ohio, scheduled for Thursday, April 20, at 11 a.m. For more information, visit: aging.ohio.gov/NHtaskforce.

The task force will continue to meet through May to discuss feedback received from the public on all platforms and use this information to formulate an actionable report of recommendations to Governor Mike DeWine’s office before the end of May.