The Relationship between Older Americans Act Title III State Expenditures and Prevalence of Low‐Care Nursing Home Residents

OBJECTIVE: To test the relationship between older Americans Act (OAA) program expenditures and the prevalence of low-care residents in nursing homes (NHs). DATA SOURCES AND COLLECTION: Two secondary data sources: State Program Reports (state expenditure data) and NH facility-level data downloaded from LTCfocUS.org for 16,030 US NHs (2000-2009). STUDY DESIGN: Using a two-way fixed effects model, we examined the relationship between state spending on OAA services and the percentage of low-care residents in NHs, controlling for facility characteristics, market characteristics, and secular trends. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Results indicate that increased spending on home-delivered meals was associated with fewer residents in NHs with low-care needs. CONCLUSIONS: States that have invested in their community-based service networks, particularly home-delivered meal programs, have proportionally fewer low-care NH residents.