title: Nursing home care: ensuring quality.
abstract: There are more than 17,000 nursing homes in the United States providing care for 1.7 million disabled and elderly individuals. Medicare and Medicaid paid $28 billion in 1997 for nursing home services, more than one half of all nursing home expenditures. Improvements in the quality of care in these facilities and ensuring value for public expenditures has been a long sought after goal. Recent actions by the federal government are designed to strengthen state and federal authority and processes to accomplish this goal. Physician leadership in this area is essential to its success.
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Benjamin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D005161:Facility Regulation and Control / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D008484:Medicaid / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards; D006278:Medicare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States