126 Business View - October 2015
profits. Half of their members belong to both groups.
Donchess notes, “LNHA is the leader in regulatory af-
fairs, legislative affairs, and education for different disci-
plines working within the nursing facilities. So when the
non-profits see our value, they join us as well.”
LNHA has four tiers of membership:
• Nursing Facility Members – the focal point of its mem-
bership
• Assisted Living Members – 16 at present, hoping to
build on that in the future
• Associate Members – primarily vendors of services
and products for nursing facilities (255 today, up from
211 in 2009)
• Professional Members – people who were in the busi-
ness, i.e. administrators who have since retired or left the
profession but want to stay in the know about the profes-
sion
Membership benefits go beyond normal expectations for
this type of association. Donchess explains: “First and
foremost is regulatory guidance. We continue to watch
changes from the federal government and the state sur-
vey agency in the way nursing facilities have to operate.
It’s not as easy as it seems, because surveyors change
the way they interpret the regulations from time to time.
We must reach out to federal and state agencies to keep
abreast of changing interpretations for different regula-
tions, otherwise facilities will be cited for deficiencies only
because an interpretation of a regulation has changed.”
LNHA representatives reached out to federal surveyors
several years ago, pointing out the “ambush” nature of
a changed, but unannounced, interpretation of a regu-
latory tag. The survey agency was understanding and
agreed to share any changed interpretations with the fa-
cilities before using them in the survey process.
Advocacy to maintain high legislative awareness is also
key. “We follow our state legislature throughout the entire
session to be sure we take a position on bills that are ei-
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