21. The National Center for Health Statistics; long-term care surveys

The NCHS has been conducting ad hoc surveys of nursing homes and other long-stay institutions since 1963. Growing public concern about the quality of care in nursing homes has provided the support to expand these data collection activities and establish a biennial program, commencing with the 1973-74 Nursing Home Survey. Based on a national probability sample, the new program collects a wide range of data about the health status and demographic characteristics of residents, availability of personnel and services, facility characteristics, costs, charges, and sources of payment. Among the problems common to these surveys are the difficulties of measuring quality of care, assessing the actual cost of services or episodes of illness, classifying long-term care establishments, and adapting survey methods to measure longitudinal changes in health status of residents and the corresponding provision of services.