Overall Quality Performance of Long-Term Care Homes in Ontario

Abstract

In this paper, individually reported long-term care (LTC) quality indicators have been supplemented with the composite Qindex measure and applied to 614 homes in Ontario, Canada. This study (1) describes the overall quality performance of LTC homes across five years (2012–2017) and (2) determines if organizational factors impact quality perfor-mance. The results demonstrate significant, continuous sector-wide improvement in overall quality performance (as assessed by the Qindex) over time and significant differences in quality based on home size, operator size and ownership. This paper positions the Qindex, a global metric of quality, as a valuable tool for quality measurement and management in the LTC sector.