Table 1.

Measurement and Expected Signs on Coefficients for Explanatory Variables

Variables	Measurement	Sign
Balanced Budget Act implementation	Average percentage of nursing home residents paid for by Medicare	+
Neighboring state adoptions	Percentage of contiguous states adopting a wage pass-through program (t – 1)	+
Elder advocacy power	Senior lobby strength*percentage 65+	+
Nursing home industry power	Industry lobby strength*beds per 1,000 65+	−
For-profit nursing home penetration	Percentage of nursing facilities with for-profit ownership	−
Democratic governor	1 = Democratic governor; 0 = otherwise	+
Gubernatorial power	Gubernatorial power index	+
Legislative professionalism	Legislative professionalism index	+
Administrative capacity	FTE public welfare employees per 1,000 population	+
Nursing home staffing	Average licensed nurse hours per resident day in certified nursing facilities (t – 1)	−
Nursing home Medicaid dependence	Average percentage of nursing home residents paid for by Medicaid (t – 1)	+
Medicaid program eligibility	Medically needy program (t – 1)	+
Nursing home reimbursement	Average Medicaid per diem rate (t – 1)	+
Home care availability	Home health agencies per 100,000 (t – 1)	+
Fiscal health	[(total revenue – total spending)/total spending]*100 (t – 1)	+
Fiscal health	Unemployment rate (t – 1)	−
Fiscal capacity	Per capita gross state product (t – 1) (logged)	+