A Test of the Validity of the "Nursing Home Compare" Measure of Physical Function

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Quality of long-term care received by nursing home (NH) residents remains a persistent concern. In November 2002, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a national report with NH quality measures (QMs) -the "Nursing Home Compare" Web site, which publishes key outcomes measures of quality derived from the Minimum Data Set (MDS). The NH quality report is expected to empower consumers to choose NH services based on quality, and to stimulate quality improvement through market competition. Given its potential impact, it is critical that the report card quality measures accurately differentiate homes with good quality from those with poor quality. Since health outcomes are determined by both care quality and resident frailties and comorbidities, it is necessary to adjust for case mix variations between facilities before their outcomes are compared. The online NH QMs, however, take no or only minimal steps to adjust for resident characteristics. This study proposes to examine the correlations between the national "Nursing Home Compare" QMs and quality measures based on the same outcomes but incorporating extensive risk adjustment. To fit within the scope of an RO3, this study will focus on only one of the chronic care measures currently reported - percent of residents in a nursing home whose need for help with activities of daily life (ADL) has increased. The methods developed in this project and the lessons learned would serve as a basis for a later RO1 that would examine the other published quality measures. The specific aim of the proposed study is to test the hypothesis that nursing homes' quality rankings and outlier status based on the published "Nursing Home Compare" quality measure of ADL status are different from rankings and outlier status based on the measure of the same outcomes with comprehensive risk adjustment. This study will use the national MDS data to develop comprehensively risk-adjusted measures based on state-of-the-art statistical regression methods, and demonstrate the feasibility and examine the implications of using such measures for "Nursing Home Compare." Findings of the proposed study will contribute to efforts to develop improved, valid and credible risk-adjusted outcome-based measures of quality that are likely to be effective in public report cards.