To test for an association between traditional nursing home quality measures and two sources of resident‐ and caregiver‐derived nursing home complaints.
Nursing home complaints to the orth arolina ong‐erm are mbudsman rogram and state certification agency from ctober 2002 through eptember 2006 were matched with nline urvey ertification and eporting data and inimum ata et uality ndicators (‐s).
We examine the association between the number of complaints filed against a facility and measures of inspection violations, staffing levels, and ‐s.
One observation per facility per quarter is constructed by matching quarterly data on complaints to data from the same or most recent prior quarter and to ‐s from the same quarter. One observation per inspection is obtained by matching data to complaint totals from both the same and the immediate prior quarter.
There is little relationship between ‐s and complaints. Ombudsman complaints and inspection violations are generally unrelated, but there is a positive relationship between state certification agency complaints and inspection violations.
Ombudsman and state certification agency complaint data are resident‐ and caregiver‐derived quality measures that are distinctive from and complement traditional quality measures.
