Improving the quality of long-term care with better information

Publicly reporting information stimulates providers' efforts to improve the quality of health care. The availability of mandated, uniform clinical data in all nursing homes and home health agencies has facilitated the public reporting of comparative quality data. This article reviews the conceptual and technical challenges of applying information about the quality of long-term care providers and the evidence for the impact of information-based quality improvement. Quality "tools" have been used despite questions about the validity of the measures and their use in selecting providers or offering them bonus payments. Although the industry now realizes the importance of quality, research still is needed on how consumers use this information to select providers and monitor their performance and whether these efforts actually improve the outcomes of care.     

Integrating Principles of Safety Culture and Just Culture Into Nursing Homes: Lessons From the Pandemic

Decades of concerns about the quality of care provided by nursing homes have led state and federal agencies to create layers of regulations and penalties. As such, regulatory efforts to improve nursing home care have largely focused on the identification of deficiencies and assignment of sanctions. The current regulatory strategy often places nursing home teams and government agencies at odds, hindering their ability to build a culture of safety in nursing homes that is foundational to health care quality. Imbuing safety culture into nursing homes will require nursing homes and regulatory agencies to acknowledge the high-risk nature of post-acute and long-term care settings, embrace just culture, and engage nursing home staff and stakeholders in actions that are supported by evidence-based best practices. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic prompted some of these actions, leading to changes in nursing survey and certification processes as well as deployment of strike teams to support nursing homes in crisis. These actions, coupled with investments in public health that include funds earmarked for nursing homes, could become the initial phases of an intentional renovation of the existing regulatory oversight from one that is largely punitive to one that is rooted in safety culture and proactively designed to achieve meaningful and sustained improvements in the quality of care and life for nursing home residents.     

The Effect of Pay‐for‐Performance in Nursing Homes: Evidence from State Medicaid Programs

Objective

Pay-for-performance (P4P) is commonly used to improve health care quality in the United States and is expected to be frequently implemented under the Affordable Care Act. However, evidence supporting its use is mixed with few large-scale, rigorous evaluations of P4P. This study tests the effect of P4P on quality of care in a large-scale setting—the implementation of P4P for nursing homes by state Medicaid agencies.

Data Sources/Study Setting

2001–2009 nursing home Minimum Data Set and Online Survey, Certification, and Reporting (OSCAR) datasets.

Study Design

Between 2001 and 2009, eight state Medicaid agencies adopted P4P programs in nursing homes. We use a difference-in-differences approach to test for changes in nursing home quality under P4P, taking advantage of the variation in timing of implementation across these eight states and using nursing homes in the 42 non-P4P states plus Washington, DC as contemporaneous controls.

Principal Findings

Quality improvement under P4P was inconsistent. While three clinical quality measures (the percent of residents being physically restrained, in moderate to severe pain, and developed pressure sores) improved with the implementation of P4P in states with P4P compared with states without P4P, other targeted quality measures either did not change or worsened. Of the two structural measures of quality that were tied to payment (total number of deficiencies and nurse staffing) deficiency rates worsened slightly under P4P while staffing levels did not change.

Conclusions

Medicaid-based P4P in nursing homes did not result in consistent improvements in nursing home quality. Expectations for improvement in nursing home care under P4P should be tempered.     

Determinants of nursing home choice: Does reported quality matter?

Quality report cards addressing information asymmetry in the health care market have become a popular strategy used by policymakers to improve the quality of care for older people. Using individual level data from the largest German sickness fund merged with institutional level data, we examine the relationship between reported nursing home quality, as measured by recently introduced report cards, nursing home prices, nursing home's location, and the individual choice of nursing homes. Report cards were stepwise introduced as of 2009, and we use a sample of 2010 that includes both homes that had been evaluated at that time and that had not yet been. Thus, we can distinguish between institutions with above and below average ratings as well as nonrated nursing homes. We find that the probability of choosing a nursing home decreases in distance and price. However, we find no economically significant effect of reported quality on individuals' choice of nursing homes.     

A Research and Policy Agenda for Transitions from Nursing Homes to Home

SUMMARY

More than 1 million adults make the transition from nursing homes to the community every year, often using formal health services including Medicare Part A skilled home health care. Although the need for discharge planning is well described, and the risks associated with care transitions are increasingly recognized, there is very limited information about the process and outcomes as patients move from nursing home to home. This paper reviews pertinent published data and health services research as background information and outlines a research agenda for studying these important transitions.     

Essential but Excluded: Building Disaster Preparedness Capacity for Home Health Care Workers and Home Care Agencies

COVID-19 has demonstrated the essential role of home care services in supporting community-dwelling older and disabled individuals through a public health emergency. As the pandemic overwhelmed hospitals and nursing homes, home care helped individuals remain in the community and recover from COVID-19 at home. Yet unlike many institutional providers, home care agencies were often disconnected from broader public health disaster planning efforts and struggled to access basic resources, jeopardizing the workers who provide this care and the medically complex and often marginalized patients they support. The exclusion of home care from the broader COVID-19 emergency response underscores how the home care industry operates apart from the traditional health care infrastructure, even as its workers provide essential long-term care services. This special article (1) describes the experiences of home health care workers and their agencies during COVID-19 by summarizing existing empiric research; (2) reflects on how these experiences were shaped and exacerbated by longstanding challenges in the home care industry; and (3) identifies implications for future disaster preparedness policies and practice to better serve this workforce, the home care industry, and those for whom they care.     

Balancing the nation's health care scorecard: the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports

BACKGROUND: In January 2005, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released the congressionally mandated reports on the United States health care system--the 2004 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports (NHQR and NHDR). They are intended to summarize the current state of the science of health care quality and disparities for a broad audience, including providers, consumers, researchers, and policy makers. BALANCING THE HEALTH CARE SCORECARDS: The NHQR and NHDR are designed as balanced scorecards, yet measure imbalance is evident with respect to relative attention to the quality dimensions, condition/clinical areas, and priority population. For example, heart disease and nursing home/home health each represent more than 20 measures of the total of 179 measures, whereas mental health and HIV/AIDS care are tracked with a total of six. USING THE SCORECARD FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (QI): The measures making up the scorecards are derived directly from current national initiatives aimed at improving specific performance measures in hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies, which facilitates performance benchmarking at different levels of the health care system. CONCLUSION: Much work remains to be done if these reports are to be used to their fullest potential as balanced scorecards for the United States.     

The role of home care in integrated delivery systems.

The health care field is moving rapidly toward integrated delivery systems (IDS). The role of home care in such system is unclear. This study seeks to describe the current status of home care in IDS and to examine health care administrators' perceptions about the importance of IDS components. A random sample of 1600 administrators was surveyed, 400 each from home care agencies, hospitals, nursing homes, and medical groups. Results reveal that hospitals lead integration, nursing homes are least involved, and home care agencies and medical groups fall in between. Administrator's opinions vary considerably about the importance of select services and integrating mechanisms.     

Hospice Family Members' Perceptions of and Experiences With End-of-Life Care in the Nursing Home

Objective

Even though more than 25% of Americans die in nursing homes, end-of-life care has consistently been found to be less than adequate in this setting. Even for those residents on hospice, end-of-life care has been found to be problematic. This study had 2 research questions; (1) How do family members of hospice nursing home residents differ in their anxiety, depression, quality of life, social networks, perceptions of pain medication, and health compared with family members of community dwelling hospice patients? (2) What are family members’ perceptions of and experiences with end-of-life care in the nursing home setting?

Methods

This study is a secondary mixed methods analysis of interviews with family members of hospice nursing home residents and a comparative statistical analysis of standard outcome measures between family members of hospice patients in the nursing home and family members of hospice patients residing in the community.

Results

Outcome measures for family members of nursing home residents were compared (n = 176) with family members of community-dwelling hospice patients (n = 267). The family members of nursing home residents reported higher quality of life; however, levels of anxiety, depression, perceptions of pain medicine, and health were similar for hospice family members in the nursing home and in the community. Lending an understanding to the stress for hospice family members of nursing home residents, concerns were found with collaboration between the nursing home and the hospice, nursing home care that did not meet family expectations, communication problems, and resident care concerns including pain management. Some family members reported positive end-of-life care experiences in the nursing home setting.

Conclusion

These interviews identify a multitude of barriers to quality end-of-life care in the nursing home setting, and demonstrate that support for family members is an essential part of quality end-of-life care for residents. This study suggests that nursing homes should embrace the opportunity to demonstrate the value of family participation in the care-planning process.     

The Poverty of Information Systems Management in Home Health Agencies

Abstract

Home health agencies are increasingly being challenged to cope with economic, financial and clinical pressures. This study examines the extent to which home health agencies have cultivated their information systems as an aid for managing performance and external forces. Colorado and New Mexico home health agencies participated in the research project. The findings indicate that only modest investments have been made by respondents in their information systems. The typical respondent reports a personal computer-based system which addresses some financial reporting data, but which does not emphasize care delivery or contextual factors. The implications of these findings for the survivability of home health agencies are discussed.     

"I get to spend time with my patients": nursing home physicians discuss their role

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to learn about the role of the nursing home physician, and to begin to identify and articulate key concepts related to the role. DESIGN: A qualitative exploratory methodology was selected. Two medical students interviewed nursing home physicians in person, using open-ended questions. SETTING: The data reflect the nursing home setting. PARTICIPANTS: Twelve physicians who practice full-time or part-time in a nursing home setting were interviewed. Six physicians were fellowship trained and seven were affiliated with an academic medical center. Eight physicians were from an urban area, and four were from a rural area in a Midwestern state. MEASUREMENT: Qualitative data were grouped and coded to develop conceptual categories. RESULTS: Physicians were categorized as "pursuers, inheritors, or practice builders," based on their path to coming to care for nursing home residents. The medical directors among the physicians reported that their role was heavily dependent upon the desires of the nursing home administrator. Students were encouraged to visit many nursing homes to learn about the different ways in which the medical director role can be played out. Physicians reported positive aspects of their role including relationships with residents, families,staff; interesting and meaningful patient care; and autonomy. Less desirable aspects included: staff turnover, difficult expectations, and administrative issues. Although physicians indicated that social and indeed professional stigma are troublesome to people who work in nursing homes, they assured the medical student interviewer that caring for nursing home residents was gratifying and meaningful work. CONCLUSION: The need for physicians to care for the growing number of nursing home residents will continue for decades. Learning more about how physicians come to care for nursing home residents can be used to develop better ways to recruit, train, and retain physicians. Information about what nursing home physicians value about their role can be used to structure more desirable roles.     

Does Prospective Payment Really Contain Nursing Home Costs?

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether nursing homes would behave more efficiently, without compromising their quality of care, under prospective payment. DATA SOURCES: Four data sets for 1994: the Skilled Nursing Facility Minimum Data Set, the Online Survey Certification and Reporting System file, the Area Resource File, and the Hospital Wage Indices File. A national sample of 4,635 nursing homes is included in the analysis. STUDY DESIGN: Using a modified hybrid functional form to estimate nursing home costs, we distinguish our study from previous research by controlling for quality differences (related to both care and life) and addressing the issues of output and quality endogeneity, as well as using more recent national data. Factor analysis was used to operationalize quality variables. To address the endogeneity problems, instrumental measures were created for nursing home output and quality variables. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Nursing homes in states using prospective payment systems do not have lower costs than their counterpart facilities under retrospective cost-based payment systems, after quality differences among facilities are controlled for and the endogeneity problem of quality variables is addressed. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of prospective payment on nursing home cost reduction may be through quality cuts, rather than cost efficiency. If nursing home payments under prospective payment systems are not adjusted for quality, nursing homes may respond by cutting their quality levels, rather than controlling costs. Future outcomes research may provide useful insights into the adjustment of quality in the design of prospective payment for nursing home care.     

Decline in Veterans’ Admissions to Nursing Homes during COVID-19: Fewer Beds,More Fear,and Finding Alternative Care Settings

ObjectiveExamine the decline in admission to community nursing homes among Veterans that occurred following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.DesignMultimethods study using Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) purchasing records to examine trends in total admissions and semistructured interviews with staff connected to the VA community nursing home program to contextualize observed trends.Setting and participantsAll VA-paid admissions to community nursing homes (N = 56,720 admissions) and national data on nursing home admissions from LTCFocUS. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 9 VA staff from 4 VA medical centers working in the VA community nursing home program, including social workers, nurses, and program coordinators.ResultsBetween April and December 2020, community nursing home admissions among Veterans were 35% lower compared with the same period in 2019. Nationally, total nursing home admissions decreased by 19.6%. VA community nursing home program staff described 3 themes that contributed to this decline: (1) fewer nursing home beds available, (2) lower admissions due to fear of Veterans being exposed to COVID-19 in nursing homes, and (3) leaving nursing homes in favor of living at home with home-based care.Conclusions and ImplicationsThe decline in nursing home admissions among Veterans raises questions about how replacing nursing home care in favor of home- and community-based care affects the health outcomes and well-being of Veterans and their caregivers.     

Prospective payment and the provision of post-acute care: how the provisions of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 altered utilization patterns for Medicare providers

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 mandated implementation of the prospective payment system for determining Medicare payments to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and home health agencies (HHAs). This study assessed the preliminary impact of the changes in reimbursement policy on hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies in the United States and the mid-Atlantic region, and conducted micro-level analyses of providers in one state, Delaware. An interrupted time series analysis used aggregate and provider-specific data from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Nationally, providers experienced significant changes in the number of patients, frequency of service, and payment amounts during the years immediately following implementation of PPS. HHAs reduced the number of visits per patient. In Delaware, hospital-owned nursing homes reduced their Medicare utilization, and proprietary facilities increased their utilization. One-third of the HHAs in Delaware withdrew from Medicare participation. Additional micro-level analyses are needed to substantiate the findings of the Delaware case study and to determine why providers adjusted their utilization of services to Medicare beneficiaries.     

Impact of Public Reporting on Quality of Postacute Care

Objective. Evidence supporting the use of public reporting of quality information to improve health care quality is mixed. While public reporting may improve reported quality, its effect on quality of care more broadly is uncertain. This study tests whether public reporting in the setting of nursing homes resulted in improvement of reported and broader but unreported quality of postacute care.
Data Sources/Study Setting. 1999–2005 nursing home Minimum Data Set and inpatient Medicare claims.
Study Design. We examined changes in postacute care quality in U.S. nursing homes in response to the initiation of public reporting on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website, Nursing Home Compare. We used small nursing homes that were not subject to public reporting as a contemporaneous control and also controlled for patient selection into nursing homes. Postacute care quality was measured using three publicly reported clinical quality measures and 30-day potentially preventable rehospitalization rates, an unreported measure of quality.
Principal Findings. Reported quality of postacute care improved after the initiation of public reporting for two of the three reported quality measures used in Nursing Home Compare. However, rates of potentially preventable rehospitalization did not significantly improve and, in some cases, worsened.
Conclusions. Public reporting of nursing home quality was associated with an improvement in most postacute care performance measures but not in the broader measure of rehospitalization.     

An instrumental variables approach to post-acute care nursing home quality: Is there a dime's worth of evidence that continuing care retirement communities provide higher quality?

For the affluent elderly, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) have become a popular option for long term care and other health care needs related to aging. While CCRCs have experienced significant growth over the last few decades, very little is known about the quality of care CCRCs provide. This paper is the first to rigorously study CCRCs on a national scale and the only study that focuses on nursing home quality. Using a national sample from 2005, we determine if the quality of post-acute care provided by CCRC nursing homes is superior to traditional nursing homes. To mimic randomization of patients, instrumental variables analysis is used with relative distance as an exclusion restriction to handle the endogeneity of the type of facility where care is provided. After adjusting for endogeniety, we find that CCRC nursing homes provide post-acute care quality that is similar or lower to traditional nursing homes, depending on the quality measure.     

Nursing Assistant Beliefs About Their Roles and Nursing Home Residents: Implications for Nursing Home Social Work Practice

The purpose of this study is to examine beliefs and assumptions held by nursing assistants working in nursing homes using a qualitative approach. Unchallenged notions about residents and the roles held by nursing assistants influence their way of interacting with residents, which inevitably influences quality of care in nursing homes. When nursing assistants have an opportunity to be heard and mentored by social workers, they can address and resolve the dilemma of providing informal care as a formal caregiver by discussing what is acceptable and appropriate in nursing home care.     

Quality Hospice Care in Adult Family Homes: Barriers and Facilitators

Objectives

Older adults in need of residential services are increasingly spending their final days in small, domestic-style care settings such as adult family homes. In this study, we sought to identify processes that facilitated the provision of quality hospice care to seriously ill residents of adult family homes and their family members.

Purchasing High-Quality Community Nursing Home Care: A Will to Work With VHA Diminished by Contracting Burdens

ObjectivesThe Veterans Health Administration (VHA) purchases community nursing home care; however, the administrative burden may lead nursing homes to avoid contracting with the VHA. This study aimed to describe how the VHA's purchasing policies impede or facilitate contracting with nursing homes.DesignSemistructured interviews of key stakeholders in the VHA's community nursing home contracting process.Setting and ParticipantsWe interviewed 15 VHA and 21 nursing home staff at 6 VHA medical centers and 17 nursing homes. VHA medical centers were selected from sites with the greatest magnitude of difference in quality rankings between VHA contracted and noncontracted nursing homes in the same market area.MethodsQualitative content analysis of interviews.ResultsFive themes emerged: (1) VHA purchases nursing home care to fill gaps in geographic, specialty, and quality care needs; (2) business opportunities and the mission to care for Veterans motivate nursing homes to work with the VHA; (3) the VHA's reputation for unreliable or insufficient payment and inability of nursing homes to comply with federal wage standards serve as barriers to establishing contracts; (4) complexity of establishing a contract, ambiguity about new policies, and inadequate VHA staffing for the nursing home inspection team hinder the VHA's ability to establish contracts with nursing homes; and (5) nursing homes that have established corporate processes, nursing home administrators with prior experience working with the VHA, and relationships between VHA and nursing home staff serve as facilitators to establishing new nursing home contracts.Conclusions and ImplicationsNursing homes will work with the VHA, but the process of executing VHA contracts is burdensome. Streamlining and standardizing the purchasing processes and ensuring timely payment may expand the number of nursing homes willing to contract with the VHA, thereby increasing choices for Veterans and becoming a model for other long-term care networks.