New Grants Address Involuntary Move-Outs, Opioids in Long-Term Care Communities

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) has awarded a supplemental grant of $70,000 to the National Ombudsman Resource Center to address the problems of opioids and involuntary move-outs in long-term care communities. The grant will initially supply technical assistance and training to a group of long-term care ombudsman programs. These programs will convene in a learning collaborative along with designated legal aid programs serving the same geographic regions to engage in peer-to-peer learning, and in-depth training and technical assistance to develop complaint advocacy and legal tools. The strategies and tools cultivated via the project will serve as a resource for all ombudsman programs. The grant also will underwrite a short-term project to better understand residents' experiences with pain management. This will include an examination of opioid use, causes and results of misuse, and how drug diversion and other consequences of opioid misuse by others can affect residents.