Nursing Home Revenue Source and Information Availability During the Emergency Department Evaluation of Nursing Home Residents

Abstract Objectives Lack of access to medical information for nursing home residents during emergency department (ED) evaluation is a barrier to quality care. We hypothesized that the quantity of information available in the ED differs based on the funding source of the resident’s nursing home. Design Cross-sectional observational study. Setting Single academic ED. Participants Participants were 128 skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents age 65 or older from 12 SNFs. Measurements Emergency physicians documented knowledge of 9 essential information items. SNFs were categorized as accepting or not accepting Medicaid. Results Questionnaires were completed for 128 patients, of whom 95 (74%) were from 1 of 8 Medicaid-funded SNFs and 33 (26%) were from 1 of 4 SNFs not accepting Medicaid. Patients from SNFs accepting Medicaid were younger (79 versus 87, P