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Seven Hills, OH, May 12, 2006 – Ohio KePRO, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) in Ohio, announced today at the onset of National Nursing Home Week that 101 nursing homes in Ohio have committed to an intensive program for management of pain, depression, physical restraints, and pressure ulcers in nursing home residents to improve quality of life and care.

Over the next two years, Ohio KePRO will work with these homes to individualize the care provided to residents, which includes more resident-directed choices about care and routines as part of daily living. Homes will also learn to identify ways to better integrate into the surrounding community, for example, by having a daycare center for children at the home or by providing meeting space for local organizations.

“Nursing homes nationwide are adopting a new philosophy, moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to one that puts people’s needs, wants and desires first,” said Alice Stollenwerk Petrulis, MD, FACP, chief medical officer of Ohio KePRO and its parent organization, KePRO, Inc. “We welcome this shift in the culture of long-term care as we prepare for a new generation of nursing home residents.”

Ohio KePRO will also help nursing homes identify ways to retain nurturing staff members who are dedicated to high quality care. Improving ways to foster relationships with residents’ families and friends will also aid in creating a more stable and comfortable environment for both residents and staff.

Richard Peck, editor-in-chief of Nursing Homes Long Term Care Management magazine, noted a statewide professional interest in this philosophy. In February, Peck attended a person-centered care collaborative organized by Ohio KePRO for nursing homes and noted in the April 2006 edition of the magazine that over 350 administrators and nursing staff listened intently to presentations and dialogue about how resident care, staffing, and activities might be organized to personalize care and make it maximally supportive for residents and staff.

The Ohio Person-Centered Care Coalition (PC3) led by Ohio KePRO includes representatives from state agencies, health policy groups, and various long-term care providers and is charged with fomenting culture change in long-term care to achieve a more person-centered care model.

Since Medicare launched the Nursing Home Quality Initiative in November 2002, Ohio nursing homes have shown improvement in three of the four focus areas for the new improvement program. For example, nursing homes that partnered with Ohio KePRO in the previous initiative now have fewer residents with untreated chronic pain as a result (13.80% in 2002 to 8.67% in 2005) and continue to perform better than the state average (12.06% 2002 to 9.47% 2005). Currently this translates to 1,850 fewer Ohio nursing home residents who are suffering from untreated chronic pain.

Nursing homes that partnered with Ohio KePRO also improved their treatment of pressure ulcers, commonly known as bedsores, at a relative improvement rate of 5%, which is better than the state’s average relative improvement rate of 2% and the national average, which declined by 2%.

Dr. Petrulis offered that families and loved ones have the greatest stake in the assurance of quality care for long-term care residents.

“During this week’s observation and beyond, I encourage friends and family members to visit residents often and also to ask nursing home administrators and staff about planned and current efforts to provide person-centered care,” said Petrulis.

Quality of care measures for all nursing homes are tracked and reported publicly on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Nursing Home Compare Web site at www.medicare.gov.

Ohio KePRO, the Quality Improvement Organization for Medicare in Ohio, is committed to continuous quality improvement in healthcare through the provision of innovative products and services provided at no charge to healthcare providers and Ohio’s 1.8 million Medicare beneficiaries. Visit Ohio KePRO’s Web site at www.ohiokepro.com for more information. Media inquiries can also be submitted online at www.ohiokepro.com/media.asp/.