News Briefs: Administration nursing home data flawed
The Bush administration’s recently released data on the quality of care at more than 2,500 U.S. nursing homes is flawed, according to Robert Bornstein, a psychology professor at Gettysburg (PA) College.
"It is flawed in two respects," Bornstein says. The first problem, he says, is that it doesn’t control as well as it could for differences in patient dysfunction. "As a result, those nursing homes that take on the most challenging clients could end up looking worse than they deserve," he says.
He also says that a better consumer index than number of problems and complaints is the nursing home’s record of responding to them. "No nursing home is perfect. The best nursing homes are those that respond quickly and completely to problems that arise," Bornstein says.
The report, unveiled by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson in late April, included six types of information: the proportion of residents who have bedsores; who are in physical restraints; who have lost too much weight; who are suffering pain; who have certain types of infections; and who need more help with daily activities.
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