ALFA encouraged its members to take part in National Center for Health Statistics’ first National Survey of Residential Care Facilities/Communities (NSRCF) in 2010. NCHS is now sharing details about the release of these results, and its new strategy for the 2012 survey.

ALFA in collaboration with ASHA, AHCA and Leading Age, worked with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in the development of the first National Survey of Residential Care Facilities/Communities (NSRCF) in 2010. ALFA encouraged its members to participate in this survey and want to thank the many senior living communities who did take the time to participate. Below is an update on the status of the Residential Care survey and projected dates for release of the data.

In addition, ALFA has been advised that starting in 2012, the National Center for Health Statistics will combine the National Survey of Residential Care Facilities with the National Survey of Long Term Care Providers (NSLTCP). In a time of increasingly limited resources, the NSLTCP will replace NCHS’ previously conducted periodic LTC provider surveys that included the National Nursing Home Survey; the National Home and Hospice Care Survey; and most recently, the National Survey of Residential Care Facilities.  An update on this new survey instrument is summarized below.

Update on the 2010 National Survey of Residential Care Facilities (NSRCF)

The 2010 NSRCF—the first nationally representative sample survey of residential care communities with 4 or more beds—was conducted between March and November 2010.  Interviewers collected information on over 2,300 communities and over 8,000 residents.  The weighted community response rate was 81%.  The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) gratefully acknowledges the sampled community directors and their staffs who helped make the 2010 NSRCF a success by giving their time and attention and allowing us to collect these important data.

By the end of 2011, NCHS plans to make available to the public three initial NSRCF products—a methods report, a community data brief, and a community public-use data file with documentation.  The methods report describes how the NSRCF was conducted.  The community data brief highlights major findings on U.S. residential care communities.  Community data brief topics may include numbers of communities, numbers of beds, and their distribution by geographic region; ownership and chain status; use of Medicaid by residents; and provision of selected services such as transportation and social services counseling.  The community public-use file will contain data collected about the sampled communities; researchers can use statistical software packages to analyze these data.  NCHS has checked and edited the public-use data, and conducted extensive disclosure risk review to prevent the identity of any communities, residents, or persons who participated in the survey from being made known to the public.  Before the end of March 2012, NCHS also plans to make available to the public a resident public-use file and a data brief reporting selected characteristics of residents of U.S. residential care communities.  The resident data brief topics may include numbers of residents, resident socio-demographics, length of stay, physical and cognitive functioning, and most common chronic conditions.

Once these products become available, the data briefs, methods report, and public-use data files can be accessed from the NSRCF website.

Review the 2010 NSRCF questionnaire to better understand the information collected.

To be notified when the data briefs, methods report and public-use data files are available, please join the listserv of the NCHS Long-Term Care Statistics Branch (LTCSB). If you have any questions or comments, please contact LTCSB by email (ltcsbfeedback@cdc.gov) or phone (301-458-4747).

2012 National Survey of Long-Term Care Providers (NSLTCP)

Starting in 2011, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is launching its new strategy for obtaining and providing statistical information about the spectrum of paid, regulated long-term care (LTC) providers in the United States.  In a time of increasingly limited resources, the NSLTCP will replace NCHS’ previously conducted periodic LTC provider surveys that included the National Nursing Home Survey; the National Home and Hospice Care Survey; and most recently, the National Survey of Residential Care Facilities.  The NSLTCP will include residential care communities.  The four main NSLTCP goals are to: 

1. Estimate the U.S. national supply of paid, regulated LTC providers (i.e., nursing home, home health care, residential care, adult day care, hospice)
 
2. Estimate key policy-relevant characteristics and practices of paid regulated LTC providers nationally and monitor trends over time, overall and by types of LTC providers
 
3. Estimate the use of these LTC providers in the U.S. and monitor trends over time, overall and by types of LTC providers
 
4. Estimate key policy-relevant characteristics of LTC users nationally and monitor trends over time, overall and by types of LTC providers

The NSLTCP is designed to: (1) expand the coverage of types of paid, regulated LTC providers; (2) use only administrative data for providers for which they are available (nursing homes, home health agencies, and hospices); (3) conduct biennial nationally representative sample surveys of providers for which nationally representative administrative data do not exist (residential care communities, adult day service centers); and (4) provide current information on LTC providers more frequently than in the past decade.  The surveys will be conducted by mail, web, or telephone and will take less than an hour to complete.  NCHS plans to use the administrative and survey data in a regularly updated overview report on the supply and use of different types of paid, regulated LTC in the United States.  NCHS currently plans to field the first national surveys for the residential care community and adult day service center components of NSLTCP starting in late 2012, and produce the first overview report in late 2013.


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