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After salary and wages, facility and real estate expenditure are the largest cost items in the semi‐public sector. Especially, for long‐term care facilities, there is high‐saving potential from more efficient and effective use of property. The main purpose of this paper is an exploratory research study in order to analyse the operating costs of long‐term care facilities.

The survey is based on empirical data questionnaires, data generation and semi‐structured interviews at 18 long‐term care facilities in Tyrol, Austria carried out during Summer 2007. In order to determine the volume and to prioritize the cost drivers computer‐aided real‐estate benchmarking software was used, which was developed by the Institute of Real Estate Benchmarking at the University of Applied Sciences KufsteinTirol, Austria. Statistic analyses were conducted to investigate saving potential, determine the best case of the sample and submit recommendations to the decision makers.

The main findings are the investigation and visualization of saving potential of long‐term care facilities and identification of the volume and structure of the cost drivers and illuminated current best practices in effective building upkeep and operating costs of long‐term care facilities in Tyrol. Furthermore, the study reveals the immense saving potential in the costs of various services.

This survey is based on the operating costs of long‐term care facilities. Other running costs such as costs for healthcare personnel as well as quality indicators are not considered in this survey. Further research activities will be necessary regarding the identification of these cost drivers by the application of regression models.

Professional property management of long‐term care facilities will be shown to decrease the cost share in the healthcare sector. The results should help to establish cost benchmarking increasingly and develop it as a strategic planning tool in order to support management in the healthcare sector in the decision‐making process.

The paper presents a new measuring method, which allows an holistic view of three influencing factors, namely the amount of beds, occupancy and the space consumption, to investigate weak points in cost efficiency on one chart.

This research examined how moving to a residential care home, a specific form of long‐term care facility, influences the quality of the relationship between seniors and their family members and how policies in these homes can facilitate relationships between residents and their family members. In this exploratory study, a total of five non‐spousal family members participated in a focus group discussion, and an additional 10 family members participated in face‐to‐face interviews. The two main themes that emerged identified that admission to a long‐term care facility had no influence on family relationships, or it had a positive influence on family relationships. The respondents identified how policies in the home can maintain or enhance family relationships. In particular, they appreciated very flexible policies that included few restrictions on when and where they could interact with their relatives and appreciated facilities providing private spaces to accommodate family interaction. The results of this study, and future research, will aid administrators in long‐term care facilities to develop policies that most support and enhance the experience of seniors and their ongoing relationship with their family members.

This paper aims to provide an invaluable insight into long‐term forecasting of demand for aged care facilities. This will ensure the provision of adequate supply by government bodies, stakeholders and developers in order to meet the anticipated level of demand, without creating an over‐supply or an under‐supply scenario.

Using an innovative approach, different data sources were collectively used to forecast separate individual supply and demand levels, which were then examined together in order to measure the difference between the two variables between 2009‐2020. A case study approach was used for Victoria, Australia.

The paper finds that, although there is excess supply between 2009‐2010 and 2019‐2020, the period between 2010 and 2019 will experience an under‐supply period which cannot be easily rectified over the short term.

The case study was limited to residential care facilities in Victoria, Australia, although some countries have substantially different age profiles and accommodation supply for older residents. Forecasts are based on information sources from various data suppliers and collectively analysed.

The results are also of direct interest to place managers and planning authorities who are charged with providing medium‐ and long‐term visions and plans for specific locations. This type of research is essential when planning for the eventual aging of the population, where the methodology can be replicated in different areas. Most importantly, this research approach provides a solid basis for decisions regarding the supply of residential aged care facilities as opposed to a simple estimate.

The study adopted a unique approach to analysing the individual supply and demand components for aged care facilities over the long term. This approach is able to accurately determine when there will be an under‐supply or over‐supply situation and thus provide the opportunity to address the difference before it occurs. This will allow informed decisions about planning aged care facilities in the future to be made as required.

The “baby-boom” generation is poised for retirement. Yet the American states exhibit sharp inequalities in the public support they provide for nursing facility long-term care for the elderly, a form of health care that few Americans can afford to purchase privately. Further, remarkable disparities exist, both within and among states, in the quality of nursing facility care. We describe cross-state variation in Medicaid support for and the quality of nursing facility care, offer regression models that provisionally explain the sources of these inequalities, comment on the social implications of these disparities and recommend a solution.

Nursing facility inspections routinely produce statistics revealing sharp disparities in care at both the facility and the state level. But whether high rates of deficiencies are more indicative of stringent enforcement of standards, leading to improved care, or ongoing poor quality care remains unclear. Until this question is answered, families of nursing facility residents, responsible public officials and interested professionals, are all unable to make sound decisions about long-term care quality. We employ cross-sectional, panel data to compare states on multiple indices of both care quality and enforcement stringency. We use the multi-method-multi-trait approach to distinguish these concepts. We find that low rates of deficiencies are positively associated with independent measures of high quality care. But, a prominent nursing facility enforcement index likely registers poor quality care more than stringency of enforcement since it is associated positively with independent indices of poor quality care and negatively with independent measures of enforcement. Attentive publics can have reasonable confidence that low rates of deficiencies indicate high quality care. High rates tend to reflect glaring deterioration in care quality. They are less signals of stringent enforcement than of obviously poor care which prompts more visible enforcement activities. Sadly, there is little evidence suggesting that these enforcement measures improve state-level care quality and thus reduce cross-state disparities in the quality of nursing facility long-term care. However, at least some of the factors responsible for sharp disparities in nursing facility care lie within the capacity of states to rectify even in the short term.

Federal and state governments collaborate on state Medicaid nursing facility long-term care (SMNF-LTC) programs. These programs are increasingly expensive as the baby-boomers retire. Yet serious resident outcome problems continue in spite of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) extensive process-focused regulatory efforts. This study identifies a promising and simpler auxiliary path for improving resident outcomes.

Drawing on a longitudinal (1997–2005), 48-state data set and panel-corrected, time-series regression, we compare the effects on resident outcomes of CMS process-focused surveys and four minimally regulated program structural features on which the states vary considerably.

We find that each of these four structural features exerts a greater effect on resident outcomes than process quality.

We suggest augmenting current process-focused regulation with a less arduous approach of more extensive regulation of these program features.

To date SMNF-LTC program regulation has focused largely on member facility processes. While regulating processes is appropriate, we show that regulating program structural features directly, an arguably easier task, might well produce considerable improvement in the quality of resident outcomes.

For frail older persons, gaining access to care is primarily in the context of long-term care institutions. Based on hypotheses derived from the theory of the total institution (Goffman, 1961) and anticipatory socialization theory (Merton & Kitt, 1950), linkages of intra-institutional and extra-institutional social ties with quality of life outcomes were assessed based on 168 residents’ self-reports of their life and problems experienced in long-term care (Kahana, Kahana, & Young, 1987). Findings reveal that lack of anticipatory socialization was a significant predictor of subsequent wellbeing, whereas the extent of social ties to the outside world did not predict subsequent wellbeing.

This study aims to, chronicle literature, case studies and applied research to suggest that communications and public relations play a key role in the success of the best nursing homes and long‐term care facilities.

Research employed included a case study of four highly qualified nursing home facilities, followed by an electronic survey offered to all licensed nursing homes throughout New York State. Results from each segment of the research were compared and contrasted.

This research confirmed the thesis that long‐term care facilities which are independently identified as being high quality have a propensity to focus on communications with all stakeholders – particularly their residents and family members. Communications with all stakeholders are key to facility success.

The case study focused only on larger facilities; and survey response was limited without individual e‐mail addresses.

A set of guidelines for Communications in Nursing Homes and Long‐term Care Facilities was prepared as an outcome of the research.

This segment of the population is expected to more than double in the next 25 years, reaching nearly 90 million by 2050. The topic presents an important issue and sensitively considers it amidst a backdrop of change in western society.

Although marketing does not play a large role in the Canadian health‐care system, acute care facilities have been conducting patient satisfaction surveys as a quality measurement tool for a number of years. More recently those in the long‐term care system have expressed an interest in this concept. This study set out to determine if long‐term care facilities in the Ministry of Health, Ontario Central West Region, conduct consumer satisfaction surveys. If they do, the study asked how the information is utilized and, if they do not, why not. This paper will highlight issues of service quality, health‐care quality and health‐care consumer satisfaction. This study is focused on long‐term care; however, the majority of the available research and information pertains to the acute care system. Although the principles of quality measurement and consumer satisfaction are the same for acute and long‐term care, our findings will identify the unique ways in which these principles apply to the long‐term care system.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the status and impact of a recently formed Resident and Family Council to determine whether the group was achieving the goals of improving long-term care facility relationships, enhancing communication and promoting positive change within the facility.

The pilot evaluation was designed to develop recommendations for future sustainability, of the council, as well as providing wider lessons about the benefits and potential pitfalls of such groups. Data were gathered utilizing participatory qualitative research methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine council members, representing all groups within the Resident and Family Council. Documents relating to the work of the council and observational field notes maintained during meetings were also analyzed.

A number of themes and dynamics were identified relating to communication, collaboration and future sustainability.

Recommendations for initiating Resident and Family Councils should include surveying interest within long-term care facilities, involving the facility ombudsmen or volunteer coordinator, and assessing resources within the community, such as volunteer organizations or partnering with local education organizations.

This original research can serve as a template for establishing Resident and Family Councils within long-term care facilities.