Lawsuits Aren't Improving Nursing Home Care: Study

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Wow!! Medicare Compare has self defined its shortcomings. I don't see a reference to this by the authors in this study. The quality data by facilties is self reported. The staffing data is self reported and includes the Director of Nursing and those nurses in administrative roles. This should change this year with the Affordable Health Care Act. The 5 Star rating system does not truly evaluate quality of care, but assigns a 1-5 rating for facilities in order to create a bell curve. The top performers in the state (even if they are poor performers when surveyed) get a 5. The middle 70% (those that are poorer than poor) receive a 2, 3, 4. Now, that we know what a top performer is, what was the question? Are there more lawsuits in facilities that are defined by a biased system that self reports the quality data? Hmmmm. Shame, Shame on the researchers that did not review all the Medicare Compare tools provided on the Medicare Compare website. Medicare defines the problems with the rating system and the "potential inaccuracies" in defining a top performer. Let's really focus on outcomes, readmission rates and patient satisfaction.

Amy Herrington of KY 12:17PM February 05, 2012

The study did not control for likelihood of residents of different socioeconomic backgrounds to sue. Nursing home residents in understaffed facilities are more likely to come from lower to lower middle class families. Often these residents have no contact with their families, and therefore have no one to bring a lawsuit on their behalf when the nursing home neglects them.

Jeremy T. of OH 3:46PM April 01, 2011

Excellent article. I would like to see more studies along these lines. Tort reform is inevitable.

Yesir of TN 10:09AM April 01, 2011

From my perspective, the biggest take away is the following:
One measure for which there was a significant difference in the likelihood of lawsuits was pressure ulcers or bedsores. Nursing homes with the lowest pressure ulcer rates had a 6 percent chance of being sued in a given year because of bedsore-related complaints compared to 11 percent for the worst-performing nursing homes.
This alone suggests nursing homes that have high pressure sores will have 2x amount of lawsuits.
Overall good info. My next question would be, those homes that have high percentages of pressure sores, what is their nurse aide staffing levels?

James Taylor of OH 9:06PM March 31, 2011