U.S. Care believes that its policy holders are entitled to receive high quality care services and has organized the Quality Standards Council (QSC) to help establish appropriate quality standards.

The QSC is comprised of 15 nationally recognized medical doctors, health service researchers and other authorities on long-term care.

The Council members have reviewed existing long-term care standards and have developed state-of-the-art standards for USC. The QSC also developed recommendations on selection criteria for policy holders, monitoring requirements and cost implications for use of different levels of service.

John C. Beck, M.D. - Committee Chair

Professor of Medicine, UCLA. Director, Multi-campus Program of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, UCLA School of Medicine. Director, Long Term Care National Resource Center at UCLA/USC, and the UCLA Academic Geriatric Resource Center.

Dr. Beck been a leader in the development of medical education, research and service programs throughout the world.

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Associate Director, Health Sciences Program; and Senior Operations Researcher, Social Policy Department, at RAND Corporation, Santa Monica CA. 

Dr. Buchanan's current research interests focus on long-term care and health needs of the elderly.

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Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychiatry at University of Miami School of Medicine. Director, Center on Adult Development and Aging, and the Alzheimer's Disease Centers at University of Miami and Mount Sinai Medical Center of Greater Miami. Director, University of Miami Research Center for Biopsychosocial Studies of AIDS.

A majority of Dr. Eisdorfer's research has been focused on Adult Development and Geriatric Psychiatry, as well as health care for the aged.

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Public Policy Director at the Alzheimer's Association, Edina, Minnesota. 

Previously, she served as the Executive Director of the Advocacy Center for Long-Term Care for 22 years. The Advocacy Center promotes consumer rights and safety in long-term care through planning, implementation, and supervision of consumer protection program. Member of the committee sponsored by the Institute of Medicine to study nursing home regulation and publish the 1986 landmark report, The Quality of Care in Nursing Homes.

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Professor, Industrial Engineering and Preventive Medicine at University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Dr. Gustafson is the founder of the Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis, a multi-disciplinary research center employing systems analysis and decision science tools to address patient management problems and health policy.

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Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Associate Director, Institute for Health and Aging, School of Nursing, University of California at San Francisco. 

Dr. Harrington has been the Principal Investigator for several research projects on long-term care. She is a member of the committee sponsored by the Institute of Medicine to study nursing home regulation and to publish the 1986 landmark report, "The Quality of Care in Nursing Homes." 

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Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Policy Studies, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. 

Dr. Hawes is currently developing a program of research in aging and long-term care. She is a consultant on long-term care policy to several public and private agencies and organizations.

Dr. Hawes is a member of the committee sponsored by the Institute of Medicine to study nursing home regulation and to publish the 1986 landmark report, "The Quality of Care in Nursing Homes." Key participant in the development of the OBRA-mandated Resident Assessment Instrument and related materials.

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Professor, School of Social Work, and School of Public Health; Senior Researcher, Division of Health Services Research and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota; Director, University of Minnesota Long Term Care DECISIONS Resource Center. 

Ms. Kane's research centers around health, personal care, and social services for the elderly and other dependent groups. She is a member of the committee sponsored by the Institute of Medicine to study nursing home regulation and to publish the 1986 landmark report, "The Quality of Care in Nursing Homes."

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Professor Emeritus, Geriatric Medicine and Public Health; Co-Director, M.W. Stroud, III, Program on Quality of Life in Health and Aging, Columbia University. Distinguished Scholar, Margaret Blenkner Research Center at Benjamin Rose Institute. HEW Board of Advisors, Longitudinal Study on Aging at NIA. 

Dr. Katz has written extensively on long-term care and the elderly. He is a pioneer in the measurement of physical function and the principal creator of the Index of Activities of Daily Living (ADL).

Dr. Katz is Chairman of the committee sponsored by the Institute of Medicine to study nursing home regulation and to publish the 1986 landmark report, "The Quality of Care in Nursing Homes."

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President, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged, Roslindale MA. Board of Directors, Massachusetts Health Council. Board of Trustees, National Association of Jewish Homes and Housing for the Aging.

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Professor, Biostatistics, and Director, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University. Advisor, Health Care Financing Administration, DHHS Uniform Medicaid Database Program.

Dr. Ray is a member, Hartford Foundation National Advisory Committee on Medications and the Elderly.

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Director of the Borun Center for Gerentological Research and Professor, School of Medicine, at the University of California, Los Angeles. Also serves as Director of Research and Quality Assurance at the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging. Renowned for his role as the principal investigator for several major clinical trial intervention grants designed to improve care and management in nursing homes. Received several awards for outstanding contributions to behavior therapy. Has published extensively in the areas of quality control in institutional settings and quality of life issues in the frail and elderly, with over 125 publications in professional books and journals. Served on the original Committee to develop AHCPR Practice Guidelines for incontinence care and developed review criteria relevant to the Practice Guidelines for pressure sore prevention. In addition to this research, has over 20 years' experience in clinical care and staff management in nursing homes.

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President of Tobias Consulting Services; specialist in the areas of geriatrics, long-term care, pharmacy and quality improvement. Published nationally and on state level and authored the chapter on Geriatric Drug Therapy in Handbook of Clinical Drug Data for several editions. Frequent speaker and presenter at seminars and universities. Projects include development of indicators to measure quality improvement programming for the long-term care environment, application of drug therapy monitoring to the Minimum Data Set, and coordination of one Canadian and three large national medication usage studies in nursing facilities. Currently President Elect of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) and ASCP's representative to the JCAHO Long-Term Care Professional and Technical Advisory Committee.

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Professor, Health Services Management and Policy, School of Public Health; Research Scientist, Institute of Gerontology, University of Michigan.

Dr. Weissert specializes in analysis of long-term care cost effectiveness and financing alternatives.

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Private Practitioner-Geriatrics/Nursing Home Adjustment.

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National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform.

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Social Research Department, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged.

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Executive Director, California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.

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Director of Social Work, Yale New Haven Hospital and Medical Center.

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Director of Nursing, Jewish Rehabilitation Center.

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Executive Director, The Highlands (nursing home).

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Revised  .