
To access free project educational materials for all nursing
home providers in the state, including non-members of the California
Association of Health Facilities, click here.
The
Dietary Services Project is a grant-funded program awarded to the
California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF) by the California
Department of Public Health (CDPH) to improve the safety and quality of
dietary services in California’s skilled nursing facilities.
The 42 month-long project will focus on promoting and providing
education to dietary and administrative staff at all of California’s
1250 skilled nursing facilities. The project incorporates an advisory
panel of registered dietitians, food service managers and supervisors,
and other long-term care consultants who will advise on the best
approach and topics to cover in educational materials, based on an
analysis of F-tags (deficiencies from the past three years of facility
surveys by CMS).
Initially, 10 volunteer facilities have been selected as beta-testing
sites for education which includes six short (15 minute) videos for
kitchen staff and two short (20 minute) videos for dietary managers and
facility administrators on safe food handling, sanitation, food storage
and resident-centered care along with webinars, posters, written
materials, and in-person training. Subsequently, the program will be
offered to an additional 40 facilities, with data analyzed at the end of
the project.
The $1.1 million program is funded from nursing home fines, which are
collected by the California Department of Public Health Licensing and
Certification Division and deposited in a federal civil monetary penalty
fund.
Would you like more information about the Dietary Services toolkit?
Contact the Dietary Program Manager, Carmen O'Connell at 916-432-5208 or CAHF's Director of Regulatory Affairs, Patti Owens, at 916-432-5207.