After years of concern about reports of nursing home negligence in for-profit facilities, a new study finds that nursing homes, especially in urban areas or part of large chains, are more likely to see an overall decline in the quality of care for residents when a facility changes ownership.
In a report published in the August 2024 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers noted that many facilities under new ownership have seen a decline in their overall star ratings, which are used to measure the quality of care in nursing homes.
Kira L. Riskina and a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia and the Department of Veterans Affairs used CMS data from 2016 to 2022 to focus on the quality of care provided at 15,000 nursing homes and identify 3,600 nursing homes that changed ownership during that period.
Findings showed that ownership changes had a negative impact on both staffing ratings and health inspection ratings.
Other factors that influence the quality of care at a nursing home include belonging to a chain, being located in the South, having a low occupancy rate, a higher percentage of Medicaid recipients, and a higher percentage of non-white residents.
The researchers note that these results underscore the need for greater transparency about changes in nursing home ownership and highlight how staffing shortages and cuts can have a significant impact on the quality of nursing home care provided to residents.
