In New Jersey, there are 215 assisted-living facilities that are inspected by the state's Department of Health and Senior Services. All told, these nursing homes house approximately 17,000 elderly New Jersey residents.

New Jersey's Health Commissioner recently announced plans for a new initiative that will focus on promoting new and higher quality standards in the state's nursing homes. Officials hope the program will help inform the public and even prevent nursing home abuse.

Ever since 1993, the state of New Jersey has been licensing and regulating nursing home facilities. However, under the current framework, a license means that a facility has merely met the minimum state standards - not a difficult hurdle to overcome, and hardly a hallmark bestowed upon only the finest care facilities.

A new benchmarking process called "Advanced Standing" is set to debut this July. The four-year pilot program is engineered to promote quality at nursing homes by highlighting those facilities that go above-and-beyond the minimum care criteria needed to maintain a state license.

Once the program is underway, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services website will display a list of nursing homes that, based on a number of evaluation criteria, have achieved Advanced Standing. This list will help empower those considering a move to a nursing home and their families to make more informed decisions. Taxpayers stand to benefit as well: facilities enrolling in the Advanced Standing program will pay a fee, and if nursing home care quality does indeed improve based on the program, lower rates of nursing home abuse and better patient outcomes will cut down on Medicaid and Medicare costs.

So far, about forty of the state's assisted living facilities have expressed an interest in participating in the Advanced Standing program. Interest is expected to grow as the initiative gets off the ground.

Source: NJ Spotlight, "NJ Pioneer New Standard for Assisted-Living Facilities," Beth Fitzgerald, Feb. 13, 2012