Does Investor Ownership of Nursing Homes Compromise the Quality of Care?
Charlene Harrington, PhD, RN,
Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPH,
Joseph Mullan, PhD,
Helen Carrillo, MS and
David U. Himmelstein, MD
Charlene Harrington, Joseph Mullan, and Helen Carrillo are with the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California at San Francisco School of Nursing. Steffie Woolhandler and David U. Himmelstein are with the Center for National Health Program Studies, The Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to David U. Himmelstein, MD, 1493 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Objectives. Two thirds of nursing homes are investor owned.This study examined whether investor ownership affects quality.
Methods. We analyzed 1998 data from state inspections of 13693 nursing facilities. We used a multivariate model and controlledfor case mix, facility characteristics, and location.
Results. Investor-owned facilities averaged 5.89 deficienciesper home, 46.5% higher than nonprofit facilities and 43.0% higherthan public facilities. In multivariate analysis, investor ownershippredicted 0.679 additional deficiencies per home; chain ownershippredicted an additional 0.633 deficiencies. Nurse staffing waslower at investor-owned nursing homes.
Conclusions. Investor-owned nursing homes provide worse careand less nursing care than do not-for-profit or public homes.
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