Kathleen Unroe
Professor, IU School of MedicineIU Center for Aging Research, Regenstrief Institute
ude[dot]ui[at]eornuk
Improving care in nursing homes
My research, clinical and policy interests are focused on improving quality of care for people who are currently living in the nearly 16,000 nursing homes in the United States. I lead a >$16 million NIH funded project, called NEXT STEPs, working with Indiana and national multi-disciplinary collaborators, to increase the quality and number of clinical trials in the nursing home setting and thus improve delivery of evidence-based care to this population. I co-lead an NIH R01 clinical trial to test a robust model of palliative care for nursing home residents, called UPLIFT, in 16 nursing homes in Indiana and Maryland. In this project we are training nursing home staff in palliative care practices and integrating palliative care consultants to support residents with dementia. I also led OPTIMISTIC, a novel 8-year, $30.3 million CMS-funded demonstration project aimed at improving quality of care and reducing unnecessary hospitalizations in 40 Indiana nursing homes. The second phase of OPTIMISTIC tested payment reform that reimburses facilities for providing on-site treatment of qualifying conditions common in elderly people, including pneumonia, urinary tract infections, congestive heart failure, dehydration, skin ulcers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. I was also awarded a 2014 Paul B. Beeson K23 Career Development Award to examine hospice use in nursing homes. I was a 2009-2010 Health and Aging Policy Fellow and had a placement in Health and Human Services ASPE Office of Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy. I serve on the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services technical expert panel reviewing quality of care metrics for nursing homes. I am the founder and CEO of Probari, a woman-owned Indiana business designed to disseminate the successful OPTIMISTIC clinical care model.