Performance Details

Department of Revenue - Long Term Care Ombudsman Office

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Mission

The mission of Alaska's Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman is to provide resident-centered advocacy designed to protect the health, safety, welfare and rights of Alaskan seniors, age 60 and over living in long-term care facilities.

Core Services

• Complaint investigations
• Develop and support the creation and maintenance of family and resident councils
• Ensure the needs, interests, and opinions of Alaskan seniors are conveyed to policy makers
• The Long Term Care Ombudsman program will actively advocate to protect the rights of seniors by educating care providers and the public through community outreach and training

Mission Results	Core Services
A: Seniors who reside in long term care settings will be protected from poor quality of care, environments and/or practices which jeopardize their safety, and from violations to their rights. Details > TARGET #1: 90% of all complaints received by the LTCO program are resolved to the satisfaction of the resident or their representative. TARGET #2: The LTCO program shall visit 100% of the skilled nursing facilities and senior licensed assisted living homes in the state at least once per year. TARGET #3: The LTCO program will make at least 400 visits to facilities annually. TARGET #4: The LTCO program will make quarterly visits to at least 30 facilities annually, targeting those facilities with the most complaints. TARGET #5: Annually, the LTCO program will analyze 100% of the complaints by facility in order to determine training or changes that could improve in facilities that need the most support.	A1: Complaint investigations Details > TARGET #1: The LTCO program will retain 6 staff and a working cadre of at least 60 volunteers in order to work towards being able to visit facilities on a quarterly basis. TARGET #2: The LTCO will recruit and train at least 20 new volunteers annually. TARGET #3: The LTCO program will meet with 15 resident and family councils at least once a year to explain the role of the OLTCO and offer support. A2: Develop and support the creation and maintenance of family and resident councils Details > TARGET #1: Support the development and strengthening of family and resident councils at all nursing homes, especially those with more than 20 residents, and State Pioneer Homes to ensure these councils are an effective voice for elderly LTC residents
Mission Results	Core Services
B: The rights, interests, and well-being of Alaskan seniors, age 60 and older, will be promoted and protected. Details > TARGET #1: The LTCO program shall educate the community about long term care, the LTCO program and related issues such as residents" rights at a minimum of four community outreach or education events annually. TARGET #2: The LTCO program will provide information and referrals to at least 200 callers annually.	B1: Ensure the needs, interests, and opinions of Alaskan seniors are conveyed to policy makers Details > TARGET #1: Annually, the LTCO program will analyze 100% of complaints to determine systems changes that could improve care in long term care facilities. B2: The Long Term Care Ombudsman program will actively advocate to protect the rights of seniors by educating care providers and the public through community outreach and training Details > TARGET #1: The LTCO program will provide consultation to at least 40 facilities each year. TARGET #2: The LTCO program will conduct training at least three times per year to long term care providers regarding resident rights, the role of the LTCO, and LTCO assistance available to care providers.

Performance Detail

A: Result -Seniors who reside in long term care settings will be protected from poor quality of care, environments and/or practices which jeopardize their safety, and from violations to their rights.

Target #1: 90% of all complaints received by the LTCO program are resolved to the satisfaction of the resident or their representative. Complaints Resolved to Satisfaction or Partial Satisfaction of Complainant Federal Fiscal Year Complaints Received % Resolved FFY 2024 496 80% FFY 2023 355 80% FFY 2022 307 80% FFY 2021 292 82% Analysis of results and challenges: During FFY 2024, this target was nearly met. The Office investigated over 100 more complaints in FFY 2024 than in FFY 2023. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office approaches resolutions to complaints in a resident directed manner. The resident determines if they are satisfied with the outcome of the complaint. While the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office strives for an outcome of 90 percent resident satisfaction of all complaints, there are other factors such as facility policies, funding, medical concerns, or guardianship that may prevent an outcome that the resident hopes to obtain. For FFY 2024, 80 percent of all complaints received by the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office were resolved to the satisfaction of the resident or their representative. The top five (5) complaints for FFY 2024 for skilled nursing facilities were quality of care, residents` rights and choices, admission, discharge and evictions, facility policies, procedures and practices, systems and legal guardianship concerns. The top five (5) complaints for assisted living homes were similar including autonomy, choices and rights, discharge and evictions, systems and legal guardianship concerns, quality of care and financial and property concerns. Who filed complaints to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office in FFY 2024: 47 percent of complaints received were from residents in facilities; 18 percent of complaints were reported by resident representatives, or family members; 12 percent of complaints received were initiated by facility staff, and all other complaints came from other agencies, resident councils, friends of residents and concerned citizens of the community. Target Last Modified: 10/06/2025

Target #2: The LTCO program shall visit 100% of the skilled nursing facilities and senior licensed assisted living homes in the state at least once per year. Visits to Skilled Nursing and Assisted Living Homes Federal Fiscal Year # Nursing Homes Visited % Nursing Homes Visited # Asstd Lvg Hms Visited % Asstd Lvg Hms Visited FFY 2024 20 100% 309 100% FFY 2023 20 100% 287 100% FFY 2022 20 100% 276 92% FFY 2021 20 100% 165 59% Analysis of results and challenges: One of the key responsibilities of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program is to maintain a regular presence in facilities and observe care conditions. The program is to ensure that seniors in facilities have regular and timely access to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program. Through frequent facility visits, Ombudsmen engage with residents, identify recurring issues, and track trends affecting the quality of care and life for residents. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman team met target #2 for FFY 2024. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman team made a total of 853 unannounced or complaint related visits to Long-Term Care facilities. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program visited 100 percent of the 20 skilled nursing facilities across the state and 100 percent of the 309 assisted living homes where seniors reside. 42 of these homes received quarterly visits. The number of assisted living homes continue to increase across Alaska. The Long-Term Care program would like to ensure that as many homes as possible receive regular routine visits, but because of the limited funding for travel and the number of staff, the Office is not able to visit some communities more than once during a year. Target Last Modified: 10/06/2025

Target #3: The LTCO program will make at least 400 visits to facilities annually. Quality of Care Complaints Federal Fiscal Year # of Facility Visits FFY 2024 853 FFY 2023 827 FFY 2022 620 FFY 2021 269 Analysis of results and challenges: In FFY 2024, the goal was met to complete at least 400 visits to facilities annually. With the assistance of volunteers and a temporary Ombudsman (funded through federal funding), the Long-Term Care Ombudsman team visited a total of 853 facilities for FFY 2024. With the increased number of visits this year, the Ombudsman also identified more complaints than received from the previous year. Unannounced visits to facilities ensure that seniors have access to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman services to address concerns, educate residents about their rights and resolve complaints. Target Last Modified: 10/06/2025

Target #4: The LTCO program will make quarterly visits to at least 30 facilities annually, targeting those facilities with the most complaints. Number of Facilities that Received at Least One Visit Per Quarter Federal Fiscal Year # of Facilities Visited FFY 2024 42 FFY 2023 75 FFY 2022 22 FFY 2021 0 Analysis of results and challenges: The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program completed quarterly visits to 42 facilities during FFY 2024, targeting those facilities with the most complaints. This goal was met for FFY 2024. However, this data shows a decrease in the number of quarterly visits from FFY 2023. Since funding for the temporary Ombudsman position ended during the last quarter of FFY 2024, the workload for the remaining team members increased which made it challenging for staff to visit all targeted facilities during the last quarter of FFY 2024. Target Last Modified: 10/06/2025

Target #5: Annually, the LTCO program will analyze 100% of the complaints by facility in order to determine training or changes that could improve in facilities that need the most support. Complaints Year Complaints Analyzed Percentage 2024 496 496 100% 2023 355 355 100% 2022 307 307 100% 2021 292 292 100% Analysis of results and challenges: This target was met. The number of complaints received during FFY2024 increased by over 100 from last year to this reporting year. This is most likely because of completing more unannounced visits. The priority for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program is to continue to collect, review and analyze data including complaints to determine trends, to work on resolution of complaints, to identify opportunities for training of facility staff or recommend changes that could improve the quality of care and life for residents. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program continues to provide training to staff of facilities about the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program and the services we offer. The program also provides training on residents` rights and other topics such as fall prevention and awareness, abuse prevention, and fraud/scam prevention to facility staff, to resident councils, family councils and residents. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program provides resources to facility staff on working with residents who have mental health challenges/aggressive behaviors, handling resident to resident maltreatment, and what to do if a resident has suicidal ideations. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program provides support to care planning team members when requested. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program frequently collaborates with other state regulatory agencies on issues or concerns that the Office has identified as needing further attention. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program hosts monthly trainings to program volunteers to discuss ways to improve the quality of care for residents in Long-Term Care settings. During FFY2024, the Office received and investigated 496 complaints. 80 percent of these complaints were resolved to the satisfaction of the resident. The three most frequent nursing facility complaints handled by the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program centered around the quality of care, residents` rights/choices and discharge/evictions. The three most frequent complaints in assisted living homes included residents` rights/choices, discharge/evictions and concerns around legal guardians or other system issues like Medicaid application process or Medicare funding issues. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

A1: Core Service - Complaint investigations

Target #1: The LTCO program will retain 6 staff and a working cadre of at least 60 volunteers in order to work towards being able to visit facilities on a quarterly basis. Number of LTCO Staff and Volunteers Federal Fiscal Year # of Staff # of Volunteers FFY 2024 7 25 FFY 2023 7 20 FFY 2022 7 25 FFY 2021 7 21 Analysis of results and challenges: The goal of retaining six staff was met for FFY2024. The program also had federal funding to employ one temporary full-time assistant Ombudsman for 9 months of FFY2024. The purpose of the temporary assistant Ombudsman was to support the Office to complete more regular visits to assisted living homes. The goal of retaining 60 volunteers was not met during FFY2024. While the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program increased the volunteer base by five volunteers from last year to 25 volunteers in FFY2024, the program continues to explore ways to identify and recruit new volunteers. During the annual strategic planning meeting, the program highlighted a recruitment plan that focused on communities where there is a need for volunteers. The program has expanded populations to target recruitment efforts such as the military communities, veterans, college students, teachers as well as retirees. The program has offered more flexible training classes outside of the normal working hours including an on-line self-study curriculum. Simultaneously, the program is working on retention strategies to recognize, appreciate and retain current volunteers. In FFY2024, the program worked consistently with 25 volunteers who provided over 305 volunteer hours of service to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

Target #2: The LTCO will recruit and train at least 20 new volunteers annually. Number of Volunteers Trained Federal Fiscal Year # of Volunteers Trained FFY 2024 12 FFY 2023 8 FFY 2022 4 FFY 2021 4 Analysis of results and challenges: The target to recruit and train at least 20 new volunteers annually was not met. While some volunteers resigned in FFY2024 due to illness, moving from the state or other reasons, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program managed to recruit and train 12 new volunteers. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program attended various community events in FFY2024 to recruit new volunteers. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program will continue to explore ways to improve recruitment strategies and to collaborate with other volunteer programs. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program`s recruitment strategies include posting on social media and placing advertisements in the Senior Voice and other news media outlets. The team posts flyers in various community agencies, universities, coffee shops and libraries. The program has reached out to senior centers across Alaska. The program communicates volunteer needs during community presentations at community resource fairs and other events. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

Target #3: The LTCO program will meet with 15 resident and family councils at least once a year to explain the role of the OLTCO and offer support. Number of Contacts with Resident or Family Councils Federal Fiscal Year # Contact with Councils FFY 2024 35 FFY 2023 28 FFY 2022 14 FFY 2021 15 Analysis of results and challenges: This goal was exceeded. One of the goals of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program is to promote the development of resident and family councils and to provide technical to help protect the well-being and rights of residents. During the Long-Term Care Ombudsman annual strategic planning meeting, the program identified the need to increase engagement at resident and family councils in FFY2024. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman team attended 32 resident council meetings and attended three family council meetings. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman are frequent guests and presenters at resident and family councils. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program also shares its resident council tool kit with facility staff which provides guidance on how to develop a resident/family council. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

A2: Core Service - Develop and support the creation and maintenance of family and resident councils

Target #1: Support the development and strengthening of family and resident councils at all nursing homes, especially those with more than 20 residents, and State Pioneer Homes to ensure these councils are an effective voice for elderly LTC residents Number of Contacts with Resident or Family Councils Year # of Contacts 2024 35 2023 28 2022 14 2021 15 Analysis of results and challenges: This goal was met for FFY2024. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program continues to assist in strengthening resident and family councils and to ensure that long-term care residents are empowered to voice their concerns to the facility staff. The program works with new facilities that have opened or are in the process of developing resident councils. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office has shared resident council toolkit with new facilities. All facilities with resident councils have a copy of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman resident council toolkit. The toolkit can be found on the website along with two YouTube videos explaining what a resident council is and why it is important for facilities to establish a resident council. Facilities appreciate these resources from the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

B: Result -The rights, interests, and well-being of Alaskan seniors, age 60 and older, will be promoted and protected.

Target #1: The LTCO program shall educate the community about long term care, the LTCO program and related issues such as residents" rights at a minimum of four community outreach or education events annually. Number of Community Outreach or Education Events Federal Fiscal Year # of Events FFY 2024 51 FFY 2023 30 FFY 2022 24 FFY 2021 23 Analysis of results and challenges: In FFY2024, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office participated in 51 community outreach and educational events to educate the community about the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program. Additionally, these events help recruit potential volunteers. This target goal was met for FFY2024. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

Target #2: The LTCO program will provide information and referrals to at least 200 callers annually. Number of Individuals Provided with Information and Referrals Federal Fiscal Year # of Individuals FFY 2024 1302 FFY 2023 1244 FFY 2022 1257 FFY 2021 786 Analysis of results and challenges: This goal was exceeded for FFY2024. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program provided information, assistance and resources to 1302 individuals or members of the public who called the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office for assistance. The information to individuals varies from providing information on issues impacting residents such as residents` rights or asking for information about how to access long-term care services. The program provides information about the ABC`s of choosing a long-term care facility, which is on the Long-Term Care Ombudsman website or sends a list of homes that have space availability for family members searching for an assisted living home. This year, the Long-Term Care Specialist created a Senior Resource Guide for residents and families in long-term care settings, which has been an amazing resource to family members. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

B1: Core Service - Ensure the needs, interests, and opinions of Alaskan seniors are conveyed to policy makers

Target #1: Annually, the LTCO program will analyze 100% of complaints to determine systems changes that could improve care in long term care facilities. Complaints Year Complaints 2024 496 2023 355 2022 307 2021 292 Analysis of results and challenges: During FFY2024, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program investigated and analyzed 496 complaints). The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office highlights top complaints and shares this information with partner agencies, facility administrators and the public. The program uses this information when participating in various advocacy meetings and when considering the type of trainings to offer to long-term care facilities. This data is also shared in the Long-Term Care Ombudsman annual and federal reports. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

B2: Core Service - The Long Term Care Ombudsman program will actively advocate to protect the rights of seniors by educating care providers and the public through community outreach and training

Target #1: The LTCO program will provide consultation to at least 40 facilities each year. Number of Consultations Provided to Long Term Care Facilities Federal Fiscal Year # of Consultations FFY 2024 539 FFY 2023 444 FFY 2022 503 FFY 2021 732 Analysis of results and challenges: The goal to provide consultation to at least 40 facilities each year was met in FFY2024. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman program provided 539 instances of information, assistance and consultation to facility staff in long-term care settings. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman provided resources to staff on abuse/neglect awareness and prevention, resident to resident maltreatment resources, suicide prevention, working with seniors who have mental health challenges, residents` rights, dementia training or assistance with addressing guardianship issues. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman team is often invited to attend staff meetings at facilities and to share information about the Long-Term Care Ombudsman services and supports or other community resources. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman team has provided numerous trainings to facility staff which include training about residents` rights, fraud and scam awareness, emergency preparedness for residents and dealing with grief. The Long-Term Care Ombudsman team members are frequently invited to participate in care planning conferences by residents and staff. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

Target #2: The LTCO program will conduct training at least three times per year to long term care providers regarding resident rights, the role of the LTCO, and LTCO assistance available to care providers. Number of Trainings Provided to Long Term Care Facility Staff Federal Fiscal Year # of Trainings FFY 2024 24 FFY 2023 4 FFY 2022 4 FFY 2021 8 Analysis of results and challenges: This target for FFY2024 was met. In FFY2024, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office provided 24 trainings to long-term care facility on residents` rights, the role of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman, abuse/neglect awareness, fraud/scam awareness, and facility-initiated discharges. Target Last Modified: 11/07/2025

Last refreshed: 02/13/2026 05:00 pm