Articles, Newsletters, Podcasts, and Video

The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care was formed as NCCNHR (National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform) in 1975 because of public concern about substandard care in nursing homes. The Consumer Voice is the outgrowth of work first achieved by advocates working for Ralph Nader and later for the National Gray Panthers. Elma Holder, NCCNHR founder, was working with The Long-Term Care Action Project of the Gray Panthers when she organized a group meeting of advocates from across the country to attend a nursing home industry conference in Washington, DC. At that meeting, representatives of 12 citizen action groups spoke collectively to the industry about the need for serious reform in nursing home conditions.

The consumer attendees were inspired to develop a platform of common concerns and motivated to form a new organization to represent the consumer voice at the national level. Most of the original members had witnessed and endured personal experiences with substandard nursing home conditions.

The National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center provides support, technical assistance and training to the 53 State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs and their statewide networks of over 500 local Ombudsman entities. The Center’s objectives are to enhance the skills, knowledge, and management capacity of the State programs to enable them to handle residents’ complaints and represent resident interests in both individual and systems advocacy. Funded by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the Center is operated by Consumer Voice, The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, in cooperation with the ADvancing States.