News & Press Releases

Research Paper Examines Medication Management Services Offered in U.S. Residential Care Communities

Wins Prudential Real Estate Investors Award for Outstanding Research Paper in 2014 Seniors Housing & Care Journal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 2, 2014
Contact: Biba Aidoo, (410) 267-0504 or baidoo@nic.org

Annapolis, Md. – The research paper, Medication Management Services Offered in U.S. Residential Care Communities, was named Outstanding Research Paper in an announcement by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) during the 24th NIC National Conference in Chicago. The annual competition, which calls for applied research papers, was sponsored by Prudential Real Estate Investors.

The paper, written by Lisa L. Dwyer, MPH; Paula C. Carder, PhD; and Lauren D. Harris-Kojetin, PhD, was selected this year and presents a study of how understanding what medication management services are offered nationally and the community characteristics associated with them, will help consumers, their families and clinicians. The authors noted that eliminating medication errors is an important issue.

The most common services offered were central storage for medications and cueing residents to take medications, while the least common were administering injections and intravenous medications. Medication reminders varied by community characteristics and the paper noted that “understanding these variations may be useful to prospective residents and their families as they evaluate residential care community options

The goal of examining medication management services is to assist residential care providers and/or investors in planning appropriate services for their communities, help consumers and their families evaluate services offering in residential care communities, and inform clinicians seeking to achieve medication adherence for their patients living in residential care communities.

Estimates of selected medication management services offered were based on a cross-sectional study with a nationally representative sample of 2,301 residential care communities, representing 31,100 communities nationally. It was concluded that there is a need for greater education and training among staff, and more effective communication among prescribing physicians, staff and the residents who require medications.

Additional details in the study include:

  • Generally, physician involvement in residential care communities is limited.
  • Virtually all residential care communities offered medication management services, however, a minority of them offered injection or IV services.
  • Although the type of medication management service is examined, the quality offered cannot be analyzed or inferred.
  • The findings may inform future policy to enhance medication management services to meet consumer needs and inform future research activities examining health outcomes related to these services in residential care communities.

Another paper, titled, Accessibility and Aging in Place in Subsidized Housing, won the Prudential Real Estate Investor New Investigators Award honoring research in graduate school or recent graduates.

Of special note, two papers, received Merit awards, Using a Pharmacy Student Model to Review Prescription Medication Use Among Older Adults Living in Low-Income Seniors Housing and Who Will Take Care of Me? Perceptions and Expectations of Future Long-Term Care Needs Among Middle-Aged and Older Israelis.

The other papers highlighted in this year’s Seniors Housing and Care Journal cover topics ranging from the perception of age-restricted communities to resident characteristics and chronic health conditions. Below are the complete titles of the remaining papers including a special commentary article:

  • Awareness and Attitudes Toward Age-Restricted Communities in Finland
  • Innovative Seniors Housing and Care Models: What We Can Learn from the Netherlands
  • Resident Characteristics and Chronic Health Conditions in Assisted Living Communities
  • Linking Affordable Housing with Comprehensive Care Services: A Post-Occupancy Evaluation
  • Continuing Care at Home (invited commentary)

This is the 17th year the peer-reviewed Journal, published annually by NIC, continues its tradition of disseminating empirically based research and commentaries about quality and progressive practices in the seniors housing and care industry.

NIC, with assistance from Mather LifewWays Institute on Aging, has made copies of the 2014 Seniors Housing & Care Journal are available free of charge to users and institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.

Visit www.nic.org/SeniorsHousingandCareJournal/2014/ for Executive Summaries of the articles and to download the journal.

About NIC
The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) is a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to advance the quality and availability of seniors housing and care options for America’s elders. NIC provides research, education, and increased transparency that facilitate leadership development, quality outcomes, and informed investment decisions with respect to seniors housing and care. Since 1991, NIC has been the leading source of research, data and analytics for owners, operators, developers, capital providers, researchers, academics, public policy analysts and others interested in meeting the housing and care needs of America’s seniors. For more information, visit www.NIC.org or call (410) 267-0504.

About Mather LifeWays
Based in Evanston, Illinois, Mather LifeWays is a unique, non-denominational not-for-profit organization founded 70 years ago to serve the needs of older adults. Dedicated to developing and implementing Ways to Age Well. Mather LifeWays creates programs, places, and residences for today’s young-at-heart older adults. These include providing continuum of living and care; making neighborhoods better places for older adults to live, work, learn, contribute, and play; and identifying, implementing, and sharing best practices for wellness programs, aging-in-the-workplace issues, emergency preparedness, staff development, and online education and programs empowering working family caregivers. www.matherlifeways.com.

About Prudential Real Estate Investors
Prudential Real Estate Investors is a leader in the global real estate investment management business, offering a broad range of investment vehicles that invest in private and public market opportunities in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Headquartered in Madison, N.J., the company also has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Frankfurt, Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Munich, Paris, Abu Dhabi, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. The company also has a representative presence in Rio de Janeiro. PREI has gross assets under management of USD $59.3 billion (US$43.7 billion net assets), as of June 30, 2014. For more information, please visit www.prei.com.

# # #

March 14 2024 NIC Insider Newsletter Now Available Read Now »