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High-Quality Nursing Home Care is More Cost Effective Than Low-Quality Care |
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Nearly every LTC journal presents discussions about the quality of nursing home care, and cost is often a central issue. Does high-quality care cost more or less than poor-quality care? Is it actually possible to save money and still provide high-quality care? A study of 92 randomly selected Missouri nursing homes of varying quality led to the conclusion that high-quality care might, in fact, cost less than poor-quality care. The cost was more than $13 higher per resident per day (PRPD) in nursing homes that provided lower-quality care.
Based on these findings, one could project that among 120-bed facilities, the annual savings could be nearly $600,000 when the quality of care was high. To confirm this observation, the research team examined statewide data, using the same analytic methods over a longer period of time. Rantz, M.J., Hicks, L., Petroski, G.F., Madsen, R.W., Conn, V., Zwygart-Stauffacher, M., & Mass, M. (2003). High-quality nursing home care is more cost effective than low-quality care. Long-Term Care Interface, 4(9): 18-20. |