Government reports indicate that quality of care in many nursing homes has not been significantly improved by regulation. Some analysts feel that legal action against nursing homes may be a more effective remedy. Others feel it merely diverts financial resources away from patient care. Our study explores the relationship between litigation and quality of nursing home care, while controlling for an obvious endogeneity problem.
Our empirical results suggest that litigation's impact on quality is mixed: legal claims negatively affect home quality but positively affect the quality of other homes within a chain. As such, litigation appears to modestly enhance system-wide quality, but may be compounding the quality problem in the home facing the legal claim. Results also show that nursing homes affiliated with a chain have a higher probability of facing a legal claim than non-affiliated homes, supporting the view that firms with "deep pockets" are more likely to be sued.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to: 1. Recognize factors that affect the likelihood of litigation against a nursing home. 2. Articulate the relationship between litigation against nursing homes and regulatory measures of nursing home quality.
Keywords: Nursing Homes, Quality
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.