Background The Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 introduced the Brief Interview for Mental Status (BIMS), a short performance-based cognitive screener for nursing home (NH) residents. Not all residents are able to complete the BIMS and are consequently assessed by staff. We designed a Cognitive Function Scale (CFS) integrating self-report and staff-report data and present evidence of the scale’s construct validity. Design Retrospective cohort study. Subjects Consisted of three cohorts: 1) long-stay NH residents (N=941,077) and 2) new admissions (N=2,066,580) during 2011–2012, and 3) residents with the older MDS 2.0 assessment in 2010 and the newer MDS 3.0 assessment (n=688,511). Measures MDS 3.0 items were used to create a single, integrated four-category hierarchical CFS that was compared to residents’ prior MDS 2.0 Cognitive Performance Scale scores and other concurrent MDS 3.0 measures of construct validity. Results The new CFS suggests that 28% of the long-stay cohort in 2011–2012 were cognitively intact, 22% were mildly impaired, 33% were moderately impaired, and 17% were severely impaired. For the admission cohort, the CFS noted 56% as cognitively intact, 23% as mildly impaired, 17% as moderately impaired, and 4% as severely impaired. The CFS corresponded closely with residents’ prior MDS 2.0 Cognitive Performance Scale scores and with performance of Activities of Daily Living, and nurses’ judgments of function and behavior in both the admission and long-stay cohorts. Conclusion The new CFS is valuable to researchers as it provides a single, integrated measure of NH residents’ cognitive function, regardless of the mode of assessment.

Despite a shift from institutional services toward more home and community-based services (HCBS) for older adults who need long-term services and supports (LTSS), the effects of HCBS have yet to be adequately synthesized in the literature. This review of literature from 1995 to 2012 compares the outcome trajectories of older adults served through HCBS (including assisted living [AL]) and in nursing homes (NHs) for physical function, cognition, mental health, mortality, use of acute care, and associated harms (e.g., accidents, abuse, and neglect) and costs. NH and AL residents did not differ in physical function, cognition, mental health, and mortality outcomes. The differences in harms between HCBS recipients and NH residents were mixed. Evidence was insufficient for cost comparisons. More and better research is needed to draw robust conclusions about how the service setting influences the outcomes and costs of LTSS for older adults. Future research should address the numerous methodological challenges present in this field of research and should emphasize studies evaluating the effectiveness of HCBS.

Objective: Quantify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing home resident well-being. Design: Quantitative analysis of resident-level assessment data. Setting and participants: Long-stay residents living in Connecticut nursing homes. Methods: We used Minimum Data Set assessments to measure nursing home resident outcomes observed in each week between March and July 2020 for long-stay residents (eg, those in the nursing home for at least 100 days) who lived in a nursing home at the beginning of the pandemic. We compared outcomes to those observed at the beginning of the pandemic, controlling for both resident characteristics and patterns for outcomes observed in 2017-2019. Results: We found that nursing home resident outcomes worsened on a broad array of measures. The prevalence of depressive symptoms increased by 6 percentage points relative to before the pandemic in the beginning of Marchdrepresenting a 15% increase. The share of residents with unplanned substantial weight loss also increased by 6 percentage points relative to the beginning of Marchdrepresenting a 150% increase. We also found significant increases in episodes of incontinence (4 percentage points) and significant reductions in cognitive functioning. Our findings suggest that loneliness and isolation play an important role. Though unplanned substantial weight loss was greatest for those who contracted COVID-19 (about 10% of residents observed in each week), residents who did not contract COVID-19 also physically deteriorated (about 7.5% of residents in each week). Conclusions and Implications: These analyses show that the pandemic had substantial impacts on nursing home residents beyond what can be quantified by cases and deaths, adversely affecting the physical and emotional well-being of residents. Future policy changes to limit the spread of COVID-19 or other infectious disease outbreaks should consider any additional costs beyond the direct effects of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19.

Objectives To examine the completeness of the activities of daily living (ADL) items on admission and discharge assessments and the improvement in ADL performance among short-stay residents in the newly adopted Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0. Design Retrospective analysis of MDS admission and discharge assessments. Setting Nursing homes from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012. Participants New nursing home residents admitted from acute hospitals with corresponding admission and discharge assessments between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012, who had a length of stay of 100 days or less. Measurements ADL self-performance items, including bed mobility, transfer, walking in room, walking in corridor, locomotion on unit, locomotion off unit, dressing, eating, toilet use, and personal hygiene, at admission and discharge. Results The ADL self-performance items are complete at both admission and discharge, with less than 1% missing for any item. More than 60% of residents improved over the course of their post-acute stay. New short-stay nursing home residents with conditions such as cognitive impairment, delirium, dementia, heart failure, and stroke showed less improvement in ADL performance during their stay. Conclusion The discharge assessment data in the MDS 3.0 provide new information to researchers and providers to examine and track ADL performance. Nursing homes can identify and track patients who require more intensive therapies or targeted interventions to achieve functional improvement during their stay. Future research can examine facility-level measures to better understand how ADL improvement varies across facilities.

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