A new study looks at the quality of end-of-life care at Department of Veterans Affairs community living centers (nursing homes) and community nursing homes that contract with the VA.
The researchers looked at national data from VA electronic medical records and surveys from families of veterans who received hospice care at both types of facilities between October 2021 and March 2022. Community living centers are staffed solely by the VA; community nursing homes are not and can include workers from other agencies.
In total, there were 1,238 veterans who died in community living centers and community nursing homes (1,012 of them were in community living centers and 226 were in community nursing homes).
The amount of family members who gave high scores (9 or 10 out of 10 possible) was more than 13 percentage points higher for veterans who received care in community living centers compared with community nursing homes, the researchers found.
“Our findings document inadequacies in the quality of multiple aspects of end-of-life care provided to veterans in community nursing home-based hospice and illuminate the urgent need for policy and practice interventions to improve this care,” the authors wrote.
The study was published Nov. 10 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The research also showed that there were quality lapses in several areas, such as communication, care, emotional and spiritual support, managing post-traumatic stress disorder, getting support for burial, and other survivor benefits.
Inadequacies existed in the quality of end-of-life care that veterans received in community nursing homes, specifically, the report showed. Disparities in the quality of care between community living centers and community nursing homes could be due to the possibility that nursing home workers (especially hired via outside agencies) may not have the expertise and resources to meet the needs of veterans, the authors wrote.
The authors said they believe that hospice care programs could improve outcomes by launching the “We Honor Veterans” program into VA-contracted community nursing homes. The VA and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization teamed up on this program, which aims to improve end-of-life care experiences for veterans not in VA settings. So far, the program hasn’t focused on collaborating with community nursing homes, the authors reported.
[Editor’s note: The original headline on this story was tweaked after initial publication to provide greater clarity.]
