title: The relationship between volunteer long-term care ombudsmen and regulatory nursing home actions.
abstract: This study assesses the relationship between the presence of Oregon volunteer long-term care ombudsmen and externally handled abuse complaints, survey reports, and regulatory sanctions. In 1987, new amendments to the Older Americans Act mandated long-term care ombudsmen access to nursing homes. No studies have systematically examined the relationship between these empowered ombudsmen programs and regulatory abuse investigations, survey findings, or sanction activities. Contrary to pre-1987 studies, this research found that the presence of ombudsmen was related to increased abuse reporting and abuse complaint substantiations, more survey deficiencies, and higher sanction activity.
authors.affiliation: Oregon State Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman, Adjunct Faculty, Marylhurst College Graduate Program in Business and Management, Salem 97310, USA.
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Walter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004552:Elder Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006276:Health Facility Size; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D009922:Oregon; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014838:Volunteers