U-M long-term care study funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan researcher Brant E. Fries has received a $287,344 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study the effects of the Michigan Managed Long-Term Care Initiative.

The Michigan plan, scheduled for implementation in

Fries, a professor in the U-M School of Public Health and a research scientist at the U-M Institute of Gerontology, heads a research team that will examine the effect of the Initiative on client placement decisions and outcomes.

Fries is a co-author of the National Nursing Home Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI), used in every nursing home in the nation. On June 19, he will discuss the history, performance and future potential of the RAI at a session on policy directions in long-term care sponsored by the Wolverine Caucus in Lansing.

For the Michigan analysis, researchers will focus on 1,000 new clients at 20 community agencies, interviewing one wave prior to the initiative?s implementation and the second wave after the changes have taken effect. John Morris at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged is also involved in the study.

E-mail: [email protected]

Brant E. FriesSchool of Public Health[email protected]