Use of multidimensional assessment to provide testimony on behalf of residents in a life-care home.
City administrators challenged a life-care home's tax-exempt status. A successful, empirically-based case was made based on data collected by gerontological nurses using the Iowa Self-Assessment Inventory (ISAI) and related instruments (Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE], Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale [IADLS], and Physical Self-Maintenance Scale [PSMS]) to describe the life-care population. Testimony by gerontological nurses included comparisons between these life-care residents and statewide data on elderly individuals currently residing in nursing homes and in the community. The data they presented showed not only that this life-care home provided a high quality of life, but also saved society substantial amounts of money in government-funded services that would otherwise be provided to residents of this home. The judge ruled in favor of continuing tax-exempt status for this life-care home because credible evidence clearly demonstrated that taxpayer savings from the services provided to life-care home residents and the life-care commitment dramatically outweighed the taxpayer costs associated with lost tax revenues.
Daly
J M
JM
Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
Buckwalter
K C
KC
Morris
W
W
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000191:economics / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D003253:Consultants / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D017046:Cost Savings; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005104:Expert Testimony / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods*; D006302:Health Services Research; D016852:Housing for the Elderly / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007484:Iowa; D008297:Male; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011788:Quality of Life; D013660:Taxes / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*