THE IMPACT OF FAMILY SATISFACTION: INFORMED CHOICES FOR CONSUMERS AND IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR NURSING HOMES

摘要

Choosing a nursing home (NH) has become increasingly important to consumers, both those who will be living in the NH and family members of future residents. In some states, family satisfaction scores (FSS) are often used by consumers to identify potential facilities, and different factors (5-star ratings, facility complaints, facility size, quality improvement efforts) may impact FSS. Therefore, the relationship between various institutional variables and family satisfaction is important in understanding which factors may ultimately inform consumers’ choices and improve NH quality. This study explores relationships between nursing home factors and how they predict FSS, using data from the 2016 Family Satisfaction Survey; the 2016 Biennial Survey of Ohio Long-Term Care Facilities; 2016 Ombudsman Verified Complaints; and 2016 Nursing Home Compare data. Linear regression was used to examine facility predictors for each FSS outcome (N = 20,945 family members and friends; 945 facilities). The full model explained 28.3% of the variance, F=38.06, p=.05. Findings suggest that staff quality ratings, size, ownership, and number of complaints did impact how families rated the facility. Ownership of facility was significantly associated with family satisfaction; increased facility size was negatively associated with FSS. All but one independent variables were significant at the p <.001 level. These results suggest that families do provide a necessary element to NH quality assessment which may help consumers make better informed choices in the future and may help facilities think about overall ways to improve.