Nursing home residents are more satisfied when the level of care in their facility is higher, according to a new analysis of Massachusetts facilities.
Researchers examined three years of consumer satisfaction surveys. Their work ties in to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ evaluation of whether to expand state satisfaction surveys to the national level.
The researchers found that nursing homes with higher satisfaction rates among residents often had higher staffing levels and fewer deficiency citations.
“When used with other quality of care indicators, these assessments have great potential to empower consumers to make choices, incent improvements by nursing homes, and inform pay-for-performance,” said Yue Li, Ph.D., lead author and an associate professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Public Health Sciences.
Investigators from University of California, San Francisco, and University of California, Irvine, also were involved in the study. Results appeared in Health Affairs.
From the September 01, 2013 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
