Table 3.
Facility Fixed Effect Regressions of Nursing Home Quality on Litigation Threat
| Dependent Variable | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Nurse Staffing Hours per Resident-Day | Ratio of RN to Total Staffing Hours | Percent of Residents with Pressure Sores | |
| Key independent variable | |||
| Litigation threat (Lagged market claims per 1,000 beds) | −0.0090 (0.0019)*** | 0.0006 (0.0002)*** | −0.0038 (0.0079) |
| Control variables | |||
| Average damage amount per claim ($1,000) | 0.0002 (0.0001) | 0.000002 (0.0000) | −0.0001 (0.0005) |
| Time dummies | |||
| 1998 | −0.0206 (0.0291) | 0.0008 (0.0024) | 0.0220 (0.1205) |
| 1999 | 0.0851 (0.0361)** | −0.0034 (0.0030)** | −0.3673 (0.1496)** |
| 2000 | 0.0667 (0.0361)* | −0.0090 (0.0030)* | −0.6386 (0.1495)*** |
| 2001 | −0.0056 (0.0370) | −0.0168 (0.0030) | −0.2879 (0.1531)* |
| 2002 | 0.1436 (0.0366)*** | −0.0207 (0.0030)*** | −0.3727 (0.1518)** |
| 2003 | 0.1720 (0.0372)*** | −0.0198 (0.0031)*** | −0.3579 (0.1542)** |
| 2004 | 0.1949 (0.0375)*** | −0.0127 (0.0031)*** | −0.6318 (0.1554)*** |
| 2005 | 0.2342 (0.0376)*** | −0.0237 (0.0031)*** | −0.7788 (0.1560)*** |
| Facility case mix | |||
| ADL index | 0.0309 (0.0098)*** | −0.0007 (0.0008)*** | 0.2770 (0.0407)*** |
| Special care index | 0.3727 (0.0932)*** | 0.0176 (0.0076)*** | 1.3013 (0.3862)*** |
| % w/Pressure sores on admission | 0.0133 (0.0020)*** | 0.0005 (0.0002)*** | −0.0989 (0.0082)*** |
| % w/Contractures on admission | 0.0008 (0.0007) | −0.0001 (0.0001) | −0.0128 (0.0030)*** |
| % Depressed | −0.0002 (0.0005) | 0.00002 (0.00004) | 0.0060*** (0.0019) |
| % w/Psych diagnosis | 0.0021 (0.0007)*** | −0.0001 (0.0001)*** | 0.0034 (0.0028) |
| % w/Dementia | −0.0002 (0.0006) | 0.0001 (0.00005) | 0.0004 (0.0023) |
| Medicare SNF PPS | |||
| PPS bite 1998 | −0.0060 (0.0031)** | −0.0002 (0.0003)** | −0.0007 (0.0127) |
| PPS bite 1999 | −0.0093 (0.0021)*** | −0.0005 (0.0002)*** | 0.0108 (0.0087) |
| PPS bite 2000 | −0.0110 (0.0020)*** | −0.0007 (0.0002)*** | 0.0257 (0.0084)*** |
| PPS bite 2001 | −0.0229 (0.0020)*** | −0.0005 (0.0002)*** | 0.0047 (0.0083) |
| PPS bite 2002 | −0.0207 (0.0019)*** | −0.0006 (0.0002)*** | 0.0051 (0.0080) |
| PPS bite 2003 | −0.0241 (0.0019)*** | −0.0004*** (0.0002) | 0.0037 (0.0080) |
| PPS bite 2004 | −0.0258 (0.0019)*** | −0.0010*** (0.0002) | 0.0019 (0.0081) |
| PPS bite 2005 | −0.0266 (0.0019)*** | −0.0008 (0.0002)*** | 0.0013 (0.0080) |
| Changes in state minimum staffing regulations | |||
| FL reform | 0.5637 (0.0323)*** | −0.0127 (0.0027)*** | −0.0391 (0.1339) |
| DE 01 staff reg | 0.1462 (0.1617) | −0.0142 (0.0133) | −0.6442 (0.6703) |
| DE 02 staff reg | −0.4937 (0.1707)*** | 0.0425 (0.0140)*** | −0.0640 (0.7073) |
| DE 03 staff reg | 0.0544 (0.1142) | −0.0254 (0.0094) | 0.0222 (0.4733) |
| WI staff reg | 0.1133 (0.0515)** | −0.0098 (0.0042)** | 0.7972 (0.2133)*** |
| Percent Medicaid | 0.0003 (0.0007) | −0.0003 (0.0001) | 0.0011 (0.0030) |
| Facility total beds | −0.0028 (0.0007)*** | −0.0001 (0.0001)*** | −0.0005 (0.0030) |
| NH beds in county | −0.00001 (0.00001) | 0.000002 (0.0000006) | 0.00002 (0.00003) |
| Constant | 3.0476 (0.1495)*** | 0.1680 (0.0123)*** | 0.8868 (0.6196) |
| Observations | 15,883 | 15,883 | 15,883 |
| Number of facilities | 2,245 | 2,245 | 2,245 |
Standard errors in parentheses.
***
p < .01; **p < .05; *p < .10.