title: Public reporting drove quality gains at nursing homes.
abstract: Public reporting of the quality of care delivered in hospitals and nursing homes is thought to foster improvements in care. When information is available, consumers may choose high-quality providers. That choice, in turn, may stimulate providers to improve quality as a way to attract a larger share of the market. However, these assumptions have gone largely untested. We examined short-stay care provided at 8,137 nursing homes after the Nursing Home Compare public reporting requirements went into effect in 2002. We found that quality improved both because consumers chose higher-quality nursing homes and because providers improved the care they delivered. These findings support the continued use of public reporting to improve quality.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA. rwerner@upenn.edu
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Polsky
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D030881:Disclosure; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D006278:Medicare; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000592:standards*; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000592:standards*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012866:Skilled Nursing Facilities / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States