Relationship between quality of care and negligence litigation in nursing homes

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether high-quality health care institutions are less likely to be sued for negligence than their low-performing counterparts. METHODS: We linked information on tort claims brought against 1465 nursing homes between 1998 and 2006 to 10 indicators of nursing home quality drawn from two U.S. national data sets: the Online Survey, Certification, and Reporting system and the Minimum Data Set Quality Measure/Indicator Report. We tested for associations between the incidence of claims and the quality measures at the facility calendarquarter level, correcting for facility clustering and adjusting for case mix, ownership, occupancy, year, and state. Odds ratios were calcul..