Image of nurses' hands at computer keyboard

Brown University’s Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research will create a comprehensive research database to track nursing home performance and policy, thanks to funding from the National Institute on Aging.

The $10 million grant over five years will allow the department to combine federal Medicare and other data with information collected from a random sample of 2,600 nursing homes across the country. This information includes the health status of residents, reimbursement rates for long-term care services, the organization of those services, and other topics. The goal of the grant is to allow researchers to trace a clear relationship among state policies, local market forces and the quality of long-term care.

When completed in 2012, the database will be the first to track nursing home performance and policy on a state level for all 50 states, according to John Haaga of the National Institute on Aging. Noted researcher Vincent Mor, chairman of the Department of Community Health at Brown, will lead the Brown team.