Restraints

A New Jersey nursing facility was recently honored for dramatically reducing physical restraint use among its residents.

The percentage of nursing home patients with restraints fell to 5% in 2007, down more than half from 1999, according to a recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Nursing home quality improvement efforts over the last few years have largely met their goals, according to a new report examining quality trends in the nation's nursing homes. The report, which also warned about potential ill effects of any reduced Medicare funding, was released Monday by the American Health Care Association and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care.

U.S. not-for-profit nursing homes, on average, deliver higher quality care than for-profit nursing homes, an analysis of observational studies suggests.

The percentage of long-stay nursing home residents with restraints fell from 10.7% 1999 to 6% in 2006. That is from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's 2008 National Healthcare Quality Report.