The effects of for-profit and not-for-profit facility status on the quality of care for nursing home residents with mental illnesses

This article examines whether a relationship exists between ownership status (for-profit and not-for-profit) of nursing homes and the quality of care for residents who are mentally ill. Rather than looking for an overall indicator of differences in quality between these ownership types, as other studies have done, three quality indicators are examined: structure, process, and outcome. Also, different types of nursing homes are examined by size and certification level. The authors fail to find consistent evidence that for- profit nursing homes provide poorer quality care to mentally ill residents using measures of structure, process, and outcome; they did find, however, that nursing homes may modify their approach to caring for these residents. That is, the size of the facility and the certification level could be important factors in the quality of the mental health care of nursing home residents.