State Medicaid reimbursement methods and rates are reported for the period 1978-86 for skilled nursing and intermediate care facilities. A cross-sectional time series regression analysis of Medicaid reimbursement rates on methods showed that States using prospective class reimbursement had significantly lower rates for the period 1982-86. States using prospective facility-specific reimbursement...

This article summarizes the main findings of a study comparing three generic Medicaid nursing home payment systems: case-mix, facility-specific, and class-rate. The major comparative analyses examined patient-level case mix and quality, facility-level costs, Medicaid payment rates, and profitability. The study also analyzed case-mix payment systems in greater detail, emphasizing the earlier sys...

BACKGROUND Inappropriate use of sedating medication has been reported in nursing homes for several decades. The Reducing Use of Sedatives (RedUSe) project was designed to address this issue through a combination of audit, feedback, staff education, and medication review. The project significantly reduced sedative use in a controlled trial of 25 Tasmanian nursing homes. To expand the project to ...

Bon Secours Health System's new strategic plan and community benefit services policy integrates the planning, budgeting, evaluating, and reporting of community benefit services into management processes at the same level of authority as other operational activities. The strategic plan of Bon Secours Health System, headquartered in Marriottsville, MD, documents the system's mission, operating pr...

Responsive evaluation facilitates a dialogical process by creating social conditions that enhance equal input from all stakeholders. However, when multiple stakeholders are involved, some groups tend to go unheard or not be taken seriously. In these cases, empowerment of the more silent voices is needed. The inclusion of marginalized groups in evaluation is thus a challenge for evaluators. It r...

Although earlier studies have examined caregivers' experiences of exposure to violence, few have investigated female caregivers working in nursing homes with a specific focus on experiences throughout the entire scenario of a violent situation. This study illuminates female caregivers' experiences of being exposed to violence in nursing homes. Twenty caregivers working in three nursing homes lo...

Francis Wheatley's response to Christopher Humm's article, The rhythms of life' (Art & Science April 23), was interesting in that she had to leave hospital work for a nursing home to be able to work shifts that suited her. It seems internal rotation works to the benefit of management, but to the detriment of patients and workers.