The Changing Adoption of Culture Change Practices in U.S. Nursing Homes

The study aimed to: (i) describe whether culture change (CC) practice implementation related to physical environment, resident-centered care, and staff empowerment increased within the same nursing homes (NHs) over time; and (ii) identify factors associated with observed increases.

This was a nationally representative panel study of 1,584 U.S. NHs surveyed in 2009/2010 and 2016/2017. Survey data were merged with administrative, NH, and market-level data. Physical environment, staff empowerment, and resident-centered care domain scores were calculated at both time points. Multivariate logistic regression models examined factors associated with domain score increases.

Overall, 22% of NHs increased their physical environment scores over time, 32% their staff empowerment scores, and 44% their resident-centered care scores. However, 32%-68% of NHs with below median baseline scores improved their domain scores over time compared with only 11%-21% of NHs with baseline scores at or above the median. Overall, NHs in states with Medicaid pay-for-performance (with CC components), in community care retirement communities, with special care units and higher occupancy had significantly higher odds of increases in physical environment scores. Only baseline domain scores were associated with increases in staff empowerment and resident-centered care scores.

This is the first nationally representative panel study to assess NH CC adoption. Many NHs increased their CC practices, though numerous others did not. While financial incentives and indicators of financial resources were associated with increase in physical environment scores, factors associated with staff empowerment and resident-centered care improvements remain unclear. Studies are needed to assess whether the observed increases in CC adoption are associated with greater quality of life and care gains for residents and whether there is a threshold effect beyond which the efficacy of additional practice implementation may be less impactful.