Maintaining Compliance With Long-Term Care Training

Long-term care facilities are among the most regulated in healthcare, making compliance challenging and training critical. Keeping staff up-to-date with best practices through long term care training can help them provide comprehensive and continuous care for individuals who require assistance with daily living.

The best courses are those created specifically for healthcare settings and that meet multiple regulatory requirements. When one course meets multiple requirements, it means that staff can spend less time in training and more time caring for patients.

In this article, we’ll explore the requirements for long-term care training as well as ways to ideas to simplify the delivery of training.

Importance of Long-Term Care Training

Like all healthcare professionals entrusted with providing safe, legal, and ethical services, long-term care staff must complete required compliance training. Topics include laws and regulations related to patient privacy, how to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, correctly manage medications, and ensure the physical safety of both the patient and the aide, among other topics.

Compliance training is required by many regulatory agencies and is one of the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) seven components of compliance in healthcare. But beyond that, it enables staff to provide the highest quality of care and safety for residents. Well-trained staff are more competent in their roles, leading to better resident care and satisfaction. It also helps to reduce the risk of accidents, errors, and violations that can lead to lawsuits or harm the facility’s reputation. Regular compliance training is an opportunity for long-term care facilities to update their staff on the latest best practices, technologies, and regulatory changes. This ongoing learning culture promotes continuous improvement in care quality and operational efficiency.

Long-Term Care Compliance Training Requirements

There isn’t a universal list of training requirements for all long-term care employees. Training requirements vary by employee role and specific healthcare setting.

Download the Ultimate List of Training Requirements for Long-Term Care to see a full list of federal training requirements for nursing homes and skilled nursing staff broken down by role, with the applicable standard, CMS violation category, and frequency.

Below are courses that are common to many roles in long-term care facilities that meet federal requirements for orientation or annual continuing education. Staff should review requirements for their specific state to remain in compliance.

Required Training

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Fire Safety and Fire Extinguisher Types
Evacuating Patients
Preparing for and Handling Emergencies
Elements of Your Facility’s QAPI Program
Patient Rights
(clinical roles) Bloodborne Pathogens (BBP)
(clinical roles) Preventing Needlesticks
(clinical roles) N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirator

Highly Recommended Training

Preventing Slips, Trips, Falls, and Work Clutter
Active Shooter Training
Handling Hazardous Substances
Unlawful Harassment for Employees (or Manager)
Cultural Competency and/or Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Recommended Training

Cybersecurity & HIPAA
General Safety Orientation
Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Prevention
Infection Prevention and Linen Management
Identifying Changes in Resident Behavior

Please note: This is not a comprehensive list and should not be considered legal or medical advice.

Simplify Delivery of Long-Term Care Training

Compliance training is a foundational element in maintaining high standards of care, safety, and legal compliance in long-term care facilities. However, meeting long term care training requirements is not as easy as it sounds!

In-person training and paper sign-in sheets are time consuming and error-prone. Cobbling together online courses from many sources gets the job done, but it’s very difficult to track for surveyors. A learning management system that isn’t built for healthcare may not have the very specific courses that are required for your facility.

What you need is an online learning management system built for healthcare. Here’s what to look for:

Healthcare-specific courses that are consistently updated
Vendor knowledge about healthcare regulations and policy making
Courses that are designed to meet multiple standards to reduce the load
Customizable reporting that can be set up for your regulatory or accreditation requirements
Automated course completion reminders
Ability to create or upload facility-specific courses