The Impact of Nursing Home Pay-for-Performance on Quality and Medicare Spending: Results from the Nursing Home Value-Based Purchasing Demonstration.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the Nursing Home Value-Based Purchasing demonstration on quality of care and Medicare spending. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Administrative and qualitative data from Arizona, New York, and Wisconsin nursing homes over the base-year (2008-2009) and 3-year (2009-2012) demonstration period. STUDY DESIGN: Nursing homes were randomized to the intervention in New York, while the comparison facilities were constructed via propensity score matching in Arizona and Wisconsin. We used a difference-in-difference analysis to compare outcomes across the base-year relative to outcomes in each of the three demonstration years. To provide context and assist with interpretation of results, we also interviewed staff members at participating facilities. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Medicare savings were observed in Arizona in the first year only and Wisconsin for the first 2 years; no savings were observed in New York. The demonstration did not systematically impact any of the quality measures. Discussions with nursing home administrators suggested that facilities made few, if any, changes in response to the demonstration, leading us to conclude that the observed savings likely reflected regression to the mean rather than true savings. CONCLUSION: The Federal nursing home pay-for-performance demonstration had little impact on quality or Medicare spending.

The Impact of Green House Adoption on Medicare Spending and Utilization.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the Green House (GH) model of nursing home care on Medicare acute hospital, other hospital, skilled nursing facility, and hospice spending and utilization. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Medicare claims and enrollment data from 2005 through 2010 merged with resident-level minimum data set (MDS) assessments. STUDY DESIGN: Using a difference-in-differences framework, we compared Medicare Part A and hospice expenditures and utilization in 15 nursing homes that adopted the GH model relative to changes over the same time period in 223 matched nonadopting nursing homes. We applied the same method for residents of GH homes and for residents of "legacy" homes, the original nursing homes that stay open alongside the GH home(s). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The adoption of GH had no detectable impact on Medicare Part A (plus hospice) spending and utilization across all residents living in the nursing home. When we analyzed residents living in GH homes and legacy units separately, however, we found that the adoption of the GH model reduced overall annual Medicare Part A spending by $7,746 per resident, although this appeared to be partially offset by an increase in spending in legacy homes. CONCLUSIONS: To the extent that the GH model reduces Medicare spending, adopting nursing homes do not receive any of the related Medicare savings under traditional payment mechanisms. New approaches that are currently being developed and piloted, which better align financial incentives for providers and payers, could incentivize greater adoption of the GH model.

Green House Adoption and Nursing Home Quality.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the Green House (GH) model on nursing home resident-level quality of care measures. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Resident-level minimum data set (MDS) assessments merged with Medicare inpatient claims for the period 2005 through 2010. STUDY DESIGN: Using a difference-in-differences framework, we compared changes in care quality and outcomes in 15 nursing homes that adopted the GH model relative to changes over the same time period in 223 matched nursing homes that had not adopted the GH model. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: For individuals residing in GH homes, adoption of the model lowered readmissions and several MDS measures of poor quality, including bedfast residents, catheter use, and pressure ulcers, but these results were not present across the entire GH organization, suggesting possible offsetting effects for residents of non-GH "legacy" units within the GH organization. CONCLUSIONS: GH adoption led to improvement in rehospitalizations and certain nursing home quality measures for individuals residing in a GH home. The absence of evidence of a decline in other clinical quality measures in GH nursing homes should reassure anyone concerned that GH might have sacrificed clinical quality for improved quality of life.

Integrated Payment And Delivery Models Offer Opportunities And Challenges For Residential Care Facilities.

Under health care reform, new financing and delivery models are being piloted to integrate health and long-term care services for older adults. Programs using these models generally have not included residential care facilities. Instead, most of them have focused on long-term care recipients in the community or the nursing home. Our analyses indicate that individuals living in residential care facilities have similarly high rates of chronic illness and Medicare utilization when compared with matched individuals in the community and nursing home, and rates of functional dependency that fall between those of their counterparts in the other two settings. These results suggest that the residential care facility population could benefit greatly from models that coordinated health and long-term care services. However, few providers have invested in the infrastructure needed to support integrated delivery models. Challenges to greater care integration include the private-pay basis for residential care facility services, which precludes shared savings from reduced Medicare costs, and residents' preference for living in a home-like, noninstitutional environment.

Private investment purchase and nursing home financial health.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of nursing home acquisition by private investment firms on nursing home costs, revenue, and overall financial health. DATA SOURCES: Merged data from the Medicare Cost Reports and the Online Survey, Certification, and Reporting system for the period 1998-2010. STUDY DESIGN: Regression specification incorporating facility and time fixed effects. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found little impact on the financial health of nursing homes following purchase by private investment companies. However, our findings did suggest that private investment firms acquired nursing home chains in good financial health, possibly to derive profit from the company's real estate holdings. CONCLUSIONS: Private investment acquired facilities are an important feature of today's nursing home sector. Although we did not observe a negative impact on the financial health of nursing homes, this development raises important issues about ownership oversight and transparency for the entire nursing home sector.

Culture change and nursing home quality of care.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Culture change models are intended to improve the quality of life for nursing home residents, but the impact of these models on quality of care is unknown. We evaluated the impact of the implementation of nursing home culture change on the quality of care, as measured by staffing, health-related survey deficiencies, and Minimum Data Set (MDS) quality indicators. DESIGN AND METHODS: From the Pioneer Network, we have data on whether facilities were identified by experts as "culture change" providers in 2004 and 2009. Using administrative data, we employed a panel-based regression approach in which we compared pre-post quality outcomes in facilities adopting culture change between 2004 and 2009 against pre-post quality outcomes for a propensity score-matched comparison group of nonadopters. RESULTS: Nursing homes that were identified as culture change adopters exhibited a 14.6% decrease in health-related survey deficiency citations relative to comparable nonadopting homes, while experiencing no significant change in nurse staffing or various MDS quality indicators. IMPLICATIONS: This research represents the first large-scale longitudinal evaluation of the association of culture change and nursing home quality of care. Based on the survey deficiency results, nursing homes that were identified as culture change adopters were associated with better care although the surveyors were not blind to the nursing home's culture change efforts. This finding suggests culture change may have the potential to improve MDS-based quality outcomes, but this has not yet been observed.

Health insurance status and the care of nursing home residents with advanced dementia.

IMPORTANCE: Nursing home residents with advanced dementia commonly experience burdensome and costly hospitalizations that may not extend survival or improve the quality of life. Fragmentation in health care has contributed to poor coordination of care for acutely ill nursing home residents. OBJECTIVE: To compare patterns of care and quality outcomes for nursing home residents with advanced dementia covered by managed care with those covered by traditional fee-for-service Medicare. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Choices, Attitudes, and Strategies for Care of Advanced Dementia at the End-of-Life (CASCADE) was a prospective cohort study including 22 nursing homes in the Boston, Massachusetts, area that monitored 323 nursing home residents for 18 months to better understand the course of advanced dementia at or near the end of life. Data from CASCADE and Medicare were linked to determine the health insurance status of study participants. EXPOSURES: The health insurance status of the resident, either managed care or traditional fee for service. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The outcomes included survival, symptoms related to comfort, treatment of pain and dyspnea, presence of pressure ulcers, presence of a do-not-hospitalize order, treatment of pneumonia, hospital transfer (admission or emergency department visit) for an acute illness, hospice referral, primary care visits, and family satisfaction with care. RESULTS: Residents enrolled in managed care (n = 133) were more likely to have do-not-hospitalize orders compared with those in traditional Medicare fee for service (n = 158) (63.7% vs 50.9%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.1-3.4), were less likely to be transferred to the hospital for acute illness (3.8% vs 15.7%; adjusted odds ratio, 0.2; 95% CI, 0.1-0.5), had more primary care visits per 90 days (mean [SD], 4.8 [2.6] vs 4.2 [5.0]; adjusted rate ratio, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.6), and had more nurse practitioner visits (3.0 [2.1] vs 0.8 [2.6]; adjusted rate ratio, 3.0; 95% CI, 2.2-4.1). Survival, comfort, and other treatment outcomes did not differ significantly across groups. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Medicare managed-care programs may offer a promising approach to ensure that nursing homes are able to provide appropriate, less burdensome, and affordable care, especially at the end of life.

Predictors of nursing home residents' time to hospitalization.

OBJECTIVES: To model the predictors of the time to first acute hospitalization for nursing home residents, and accounting for previous hospitalizations, model the predictors of time between subsequent hospitalizations. DATA SOURCES: Merged file from New York State for the period 1998-2004 consisting of nursing home information from the minimum dataset and hospitalization information from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System. STUDY DESIGN: Accelerated failure time models were used to estimate the model parameters and predict survival times. The models were fit to observations from 50 percent of the nursing homes and validated on the remaining observations. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Pressure ulcers and facility-level deficiencies were associated with a decreased time to first hospitalization, while the presence of advance directives and facility staffing was associated with an increased time. These predictors of the time to first hospitalization model had effects of similar magnitude in predicting the time between subsequent hospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides novel evidence suggesting modifiable patient and nursing home characteristics are associated with the time to first hospitalization and time to subsequent hospitalizations for nursing home residents.

Derivation and confirmation of scales measuring medical directors' attitudes about the hospitalization of nursing home residents.

OBJECTIVE: To derive and confirm scales measuring medical director's attitudes about hospitalization of nursing home residents. METHOD: The authors surveyed nursing facility medical directors about the necessity of hospitalizing residents for eight clinical conditions and compared the ratings to those obtained from an expert panel to derive a relative hospitalization score. They also asked about factors that might influence hospitalization decisions. They performed a factor analysis to derive scales that measure attitudinal determinants of hospitalization and used the relative hospitalization score to confirm the scales. RESULTS: The survey had a 79% response rate. The relative hospitalization score demonstrated that medical directors were slightly less likely to recommend hospitalization than expert panel physicians. Factor analyses yielded 10 scales focusing on nursing home functioning, economics, resident specific considerations, and physician attitudes. Eight of the 10 scales had significant bivariable associations with the relative hospitalization score, and 6 had significant multivariable associations. DISCUSSION: Medical directors identify multiple determinants of hospitalization for nursing facility residents across several domains. Hospitalization decisions for nursing facility residents are complex and involve clinical and nonclinical factors.

Nursing home capabilities and decisions to hospitalize: a survey of medical directors and directors of nursing.

OBJECTIVES: To obtain information from decision makers about attitudes toward hospitalization and the factors that influence their decisions to hospitalize nursing home residents. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Four hundred forty-eight nursing homes, 76% of which were nonprofit, from 25 states. PARTICIPANTS: Medical directors and directors of nursing (DONs). MEASUREMENTS: Participants were surveyed about resource availability, determinants of hospitalization, causes of overhospitalization, and nursing home practice. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 81%, with at least one survey from 93% of the facilities. Medical directors and DONs agreed that resident preference was the most important determinant in the decision to hospitalize, followed by quality of life. Although both groups ranked on-site doctor/nurse practitioner evaluation within 4 hours as the least accessible resource, they did not rank doctors not being quickly available as an important cause of overhospitalization. Rather, medical directors perceived the lack of information and support to residents and families around end-of-life care and the lack of familiarity with residents by covering doctors as the most important causes of overhospitalization. DONs agreed but reversed the order. Medical directors and DONs expressed confidence in provider and staff ability, although DONs were significantly more positive. CONCLUSION: Medical directors and DONs agree about most factors that influence decisions to hospitalize nursing home residents. Patient-centered factors play the largest roles, and the most important causes of overhospitalization are potentially modifiable.

Stereotactic and sonographic large-core biopsy of nonpalpable breast lesions: results of the Radiologic Diagnostic Oncology Group V study.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of stereotactically and sonographically guided core biopsy (CB) for the diagnosis of nonpalpable breast lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-two institutions enrolled 2,403 women who underwent imaging-guided fine needle aspiration followed by imaging-guided large-CB of nonpalpable breast abnormalities. All mammograms were reviewed for study eligibility by one of two breast imaging radiologists. The protocol for image-guided biopsy, using either ultrasound (USCB) or stereotactic (SCB) guidance, was standardized at all institutions and all biopsy specimens were over-read by one of three expert pathologists. Patients with atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), atypical lobular hyperplasia, or lobular neoplasia on CB underwent surgical excision. Those with negative CB but suspicious ("discordant") pre-biopsy mammography also underwent surgical excision. Patients having a negative CB that was concordant with the pre-biopsy mammography suspicion were assigned to follow-up mammography at 6, 12, and 24 months following CB. RESULTS: A gold standard diagnosis based on definitive histopathologic diagnosis, mammography follow-up, or an imputed gold standard diagnosis was established for 1,681 patients. Of 310 cases with a gold standard diagnosis of invasive breast carcinoma, 261 (84.2%) were invasive carcinoma, 31 (10%) were ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), four (1.3%) were ADH, one (0.3%) was a non-breast cancer, and 13 (4.2%) were benign on CB. For 138 cases with a gold standard diagnosis of DCIS, 113 (81.9%) were DCIS, 20 (14.5%) were ADH, and five (3.6%) were benign on CB. For 57 cases (13 masses, 44 calcifications) with an initial CB diagnosis of ADH, atypical lobular hyperplasia or lobular neoplasia, 20 (35.1%) had a gold standard diagnosis of DCIS (4 masses, 16 calcifications) and four (7.0%) had a gold standard diagnosis of invasive cancer (4 calcifications). Of 144 cases (22 masses, 122 calcifications) with an initial CB diagnosis of DCIS, 31 (21.5%) had a gold standard diagnosis of invasive cancer (10 masses, 21 calcifications). The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for CB by either imaging guidance method in this trial were .91, 1.00, and .98, respectively. The sensitivity, predictive value negative, and accuracy of CB for diagnosing masses (.96, .99, and .99, respectively) were significantly greater (P < .001) than for calcifications (.84, .94, and .96, respectively). The sensitivity (.89) of SCB for diagnosing all lesions was significantly lower (P = 0.029) than that of USCB (.97) because of the preponderance of calcifications biopsied by SCB versus USCB. There was no difference between USCB and SCB in sensitivity, predictive value negative, or accuracy for the diagnosis of masses (97.3, 98.9, and 99.2, respectively for USCB; 95.6, 98.5, and 98.9 respectively for SCB). CONCLUSION: Percutaneous, imaged-guided core breast biopsy is an accurate diagnostic alternative to surgical biopsy in women with mammographically detected suspicious breast lesions.

Diagnostic agreement in the evaluation of image-guided breast core needle biopsies: results from a randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Image-guided core needle biopsies (CNBs) are commonly used as the initial sampling method for nonpalpable, mammographically detected breast lesions. Although prior studies have shown that this procedure is a highly sensitive and accurate method for the detection of breast cancer, the level of diagnostic agreement between pathologists in the analysis of CNB has not been previously studied in detail. METHODS: To address this, we reviewed the pathologic findings in 2004 CNB from patients enrolled in the Radiologic Diagnostic Oncology Group 5 study, a randomized, multicenter trial designed to determine the role of CNB and fine needle aspiration biopsy in the evaluation of nonpalpable breast lesions. Slides of CNB specimens were initially diagnosed by pathologists at the 22 participating institutions (local diagnosis) and were then sent to the study pathologists for central review (central diagnosis). Local and central diagnoses were compared. RESULTS: Overall, the central diagnosis and local diagnosis were concordant in 1925 cases (96%), indicating an excellent level of agreement by kappa statistic analysis (kappa = 0.90; 95% confidence interval 0.88-0.92). The level of agreement between local and central pathologists did not vary with the image guidance system (stereotactic mammography vs. ultrasound) or with the mammographic findings (soft tissue density vs. microcalcifications). The level of diagnostic agreement observed for CNB was comparable to that observed among 596 open surgical biopsies obtained from patients in this study and subjected to central pathology review (93% agreement; kappa = 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.86-0.92). CONCLUSIONS: The level of diagnostic agreement in interpretation of breast CNB is extremely high among pathologists and is comparable to that seen for open surgical biopsy.

Staging of neuroblastoma at imaging: report of the radiology diagnostic oncology group.

PURPOSE: To compare the accuracies of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and bone scintigraphy in staging disease in patients with neuroblastoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-six children with newly diagnosed neuroblastoma were enrolled in a multicenter prospective cohort study. CT, MR, and bone scintigraphy were used to evaluate tumor stage. Sensitivity and specificity values and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to compare the accuracy of CT, MR, and scintigraphy for tumor staging. RESULTS: Eighty-eight patients were eligible for staging analysis, and 45 patients who underwent surgery at initial diagnosis were eligible for analysis of local tumor extent. CT and MR had sensitivities of 43% and 83%, respectively (P <.01), and specificities of 97% and 88%, respectively (P >.05), for detection of stage 4 disease. Areas under the ROC curves for CT and MR were 0.81 and 0.85, respectively (P =.06); that for scintigraphy was 0.83. Addition of scintigraphy to both CT and MR increased the areas under the ROC curves to 0.90 and 0.88, respectively. Accuracy of CT and MR for staging disease confined to the chest or abdomen (stages 1, 2, and 3) was poor. CONCLUSION: MR alone and CT and MR combined with bone scintigraphy enable the accurate detection of stage 4 disease. Both CT and MR perform poorly for local tumor staging.