Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108214

Andrew Kramer, MD, Elizabeth Frederickson, BA, Helena Louwe, RN, MA, and Carla Parry, PhD, MSW. Division of Health Care Policy and Research, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 13611 East Colfax Ave, Suite 100, Aurora, CO 80011, 303-724-2426, Carla.Parry@uchsc.edu

Nursing home enforcement activities are intended to improve the quality of care in nursing homes; however, we know little about the impact of various levels of enforcement actions on subsequent deficiencies or resident outcomes. The intent of this secondary data study is to assess, to the extent possible, whether citations followed by enforcement actions result in a reduction of subsequent citations and improvements in selected resident outcomes. Three secondary databases will be used for this analysis including: 1) the Enforcement Tracking System (ETS) providing information on deficiencies and resulting enforcement actions; 2) Online Survey, Certification and Reporting (OSCAR) reporting information on nursing home characteristics and the inspection survey results and deficiencies; and 3) Minimum Data Set (MDS) providing information on resident characteristics and outcomes. These data sets will be merged to study the association between different types of enforcement remedies and changes in both deficiencies in subsequent surveys and resident-level outcomes. Results from this study are intended to shed light on the extent to which different types of enforcement sanctions influence future deficiencies and outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

• · Describe the nursing home regulatory process that ostensible ensures public accountability for quality standards;
• · Describe state differences and major trends in nursing home enforcement;
• · Assess whether this system of enforcement is actually working as intended.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.