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NationalNursing Home Quality Measures Compared to Achievable Benchmarks

The NHQDR quality measures specific to Nursing Home are compared to achievable benchmarks, which are derived from the top-performing States. Better performance of a State can mean higher or lower values of a measure, depending on the desired outcome. For example, low values are desirable for measures such as infant mortality, whereas high values are desirable for measures such as preventative screening. The categories of achievement have been standardized across the measure definitions so that:

Far away from benchmark - the value for a measure has not achieved 50% of the benchmark.

Close to benchmark - the value for a measure is between 50% and 90% of a benchmark (i.e., worse than the benchmark but has achieved at least half of the benchmark but not as much as 90% of a benchmark).

Achieved benchmark or better - the value for a measure is no worse than 90% of the benchmark value, the measure has achieved the benchmark. This category also includes the case in which the measure’s value is equal to or better than the benchmark.

Measures That Achieved Benchmark or Better
Measure	Estimate	Benchmark	Distance to Benchmark
Long-stay nursing home residents with a urinary tract infection	2.0	2.8	Achieved: 30% better
Short-stay nursing home patients with pressure ulcers that are new or worsened	0.2	0.3	Achieved: 26% better
Long-stay nursing home residents with physical restraints	0.2	0.3	Achieved: 7% better
Long-stay nursing home patients who were assessed and appropriately given the seasonal influenza vaccine	91.7	93.9	Achieved within: 2.4%
Long-stay nursing home residents who were assessed for pneumococcal vaccination	92.1	97.0	Achieved within: 5.1%
Short-stay nursing home patients who had flu vaccination appropriately given	86.8	92.2	Achieved within: 5.9%
Short-stay nursing home residents who were assessed for pneumococcal vaccination	85.6	91.4	Achieved within: 6.3%
Short-stay nursing home residents with moderate to severe pain	11.3	10.5	Achieved within: 7.6%

Measures That Are Close to Benchmark
Measure	Estimate	Benchmark	Distance to Benchmark
Long-stay nursing home residents with too much weight loss	5.2	4.7	11.5%
Long-stay nursing home residents whose ability to move independently worsened	23.9	20.7	15.5%
Low-risk, long-stay nursing home residents with loss of control of bowels or bladder	74.3	63.0	18.0%
Long-stay nursing home residents whose need for help with daily activities increased	20.5	17.1	20.0%
Low-risk, long-stay nursing home residents with a catheter inserted and left in the bladder	2.7	2.1	29.2%
Long-stay nursing home patients experiencing one or more falls with major injury	0.6	0.4	37.2%
Long-stay nursing home residents with moderate to severe pain	6.2	4.3	42.7%

Measures That Are Far From Benchmark
Measure	Estimate	Benchmark	Distance to Benchmark
High-risk, long-stay nursing home patients with pressure ulcer	4.8	3.0	58.1%
Long-stay nursing home residents have depressive symptoms	4.4	1.1	288.5%

National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports

NationalNursing Home Quality Measures Compared to Achievable Benchmarks

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