Nursing Homes: Success of Quality Initiatives Requires Sustained Federal and State Commitment

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the quality of care in nursing homes, focusing on: (1) progress in improving the detection of quality problems during annual surveys; (2) how the prevalence of identified problems has changed; (3) the status of efforts to strengthen states' complaint investigation processes and federal enforcement policies; and (4) additional activities occurring at the federal level to improve oversight of states' quality assurance activities.