Did you know about the Dining Practice Standards? If you did, don’t forget about them. If you don’t, learn about them.

Stemming from the CMS/Pioneer Network Creating Home II National Symposium on Culture Change and the Food and Dining Requirements came the new Dining Practice Standards. The Standards were agreed upon by 12 clinical standard-setting organizations and recognized by CMS. Learn the Standards, how they were built upon CMS requirements from the symposium and Standards task force facilitator.

Don’t let your systems hold you hostage.

Do it differently. Food = love.

Be more individualized, less institutional.

Did you also know that CMS federal regulations also very much support person-directed dining? Lean into CMS regulations that require honoring choice.

Create a culture where people want to live and work starting with their tummies.

One nursing home team who experienced this 12-month curriculum, giving time to digest the education, stated it was a “game changer” for the whole team to learn how to, together, really support people to eat what they want to eat.

Did you know? The Dining Practice Standards and CMS federal regulations and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ 2018 Position Paper in effect until Dec. 31, 2025 – Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Individualized Nutrition Approaches for Older Adults: Long-Term Care, Post-Acute Care, and Other Settings – all go together?

1. Move from restricted diets to offering what people want to eat.
2. Move from altered consistency diets to offering what people want to eat.
3. Move from artificial food/supplements to offering real food and cost savings.
4. Move from set mealtimes to open dining times, better compliance in honoring choice and pave the way to honor sleep/natural awakening.
5. Move from token choice to true choice, better regulatory compliance and prevention of further negative outcomes.
6. Move from institutional meals to nourish the body and soul.
7. Move from food preparation not allowed to opportunities for preparing food by those who live there.
8. Move from an institutional to normal home convivial dining experience.
9. Move from institutional offerings to themes and celebrating ethnicities using food.
10. Move away from adults having to ask for a snack in their own home to the ability to help themselves.
11. Move from traditional professional control to instead support self-directed living and informed choice.
12. Recap Round Table of Year’s Education: Successes & Lessons Learned

This can be for individual teams, educational organizations, or for a whole company. Edu-Catering Studio offers the ability to create company-specific videos of any length.

Create tailored videos that can be uploaded and integrated into Relias. Create your own module use Relias for tracking. I can help with creating quizzes, etc.

Consider using and implementing to advance your home to the Baldridge Bronze, Silver or Gold.

Call me to brainstorm ideas! It doesn’t have to be so institutional. 303-981-7228

Bio: Carmen Bowman is a consultant, trainer, author, and owner of Edu-Catering: Catering Education for Compliance and Culture Change, turning her former role of regulator into educator. Carmen was a Colorado state surveyor for nine years, a policy analyst with CMS Central Office where she taught the national Basic Surveyor Course. As a contractor to CMS, Carmen co-developed the original Artifacts of Culture Change (ACC, 2006) and has since co-developed the ACC 2.0 and ACC – Assisted Living (2021). She facilitated both CMS/Pioneer Network Creating Home national symposiums I regarding the environment and II regarding food and dining. She facilitated the Task Force that developed the New Dining Practice Standards. Carmen holds a Master’s degree in Healthcare Systems, a Bachelor’s in Social Work and German, is a Certified Eden Associate and Eden Mentor, Certified Validation Worker, Group Practitioner and Presenter. She co-founded the Culture Change Coalitions in Colorado and Wyoming. With Action Pact, she’s hosted Conversations of Culture Change with Carmen since 2009and has authored eight culture change workbooks. She started a new blog and eResource series called Using Regulations to Reject & Replace Institution with Home & Normal Life: 1) GUARDIANS OF NORMAL LIFE and 2) Individualizing Medication Administration using Regulations at www.edu-catering.com. carmen@edu-catering.com