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Nursing Home Price and Quality Responses to Publicly Reported Quality Information
Author(s) -
Clement Jan P.,
Bazzoli Gloria J.,
Zhao Mei
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
health services research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.706
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1475-6773
pISSN - 0017-9124
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2011.01306.x
Subject(s) - quality (philosophy) , nursing homes , nursing , medicine , quality management , business , actuarial science , marketing , philosophy , epistemology , service (business)
Objective To assess whether the release of N ursing H ome C ompare ( NHC ) data affected self‐pay per diem prices and quality of care. Data Sources Primary data sources are the A nnual S urvey of W isconsin N ursing H omes for 2001–2003, O nline S urvey and C ertification R eporting S ystem, NHC , and A rea R esource F ile. Study Design We estimated fixed effects models with robust standard errors of per diem self‐pay charge and quality before and after NHC . Principal Findings After NHC , low‐quality nursing homes raised their prices by a small but significant amount and decreased their use of restraints but did not reduce pressure sores. Mid‐level and high‐quality nursing homes did not significantly increase self‐pay prices after NHC nor consistently change quality. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the release of quality information affected nursing home behavior, especially pricing and quality decisions among low‐quality facilities. Policy makers should continue to monitor quality and prices for self‐pay residents and scrutinize low‐quality homes over time to see whether they are on a pathway to improve quality. In addition, policy makers should not expect public reporting to result in quick fixes to nursing home quality problems.