It Is Not Your Parents’ Long-Term Services System: Nursing Homes in a Changing World

Abstract

The long-term services system has changed substantially since the mid-1970s, when the landmark book Last Home for the Aged argued that the move to the nursing home was the last move an older person would make until death. Using detailed nursing home utilization data from the Minimum Data Set, this study tracks three cohorts of first-time nursing home admissions in Ohio from 1994 through 2014. Each cohort was followed for a 3-year period. Study results report dramatic reductions in nursing home length of stay between the 1994 and 2011 cohorts. Reduction in length of stay has important implications for nursing home practice and quality monitoring. The article argues that administrative and regulatory practices have not kept pace with the dramatic changes in how nursing homes are now being used in the long-term services system.