Analysis of public quality reports for home care and long-term care with respect to their usefulness for the customer

Background: Public quality reports, based on new legislative regulations of 2008, were supposed to offer potential customers the possibility to make a well-informed choice of a care provider. Aim: This empirical study on marks for long-term care is based on the public quality reports of the Medical Service of the Health Insurance Companies (MDK), of 11 884 home care services and 10 310 nursing homes, which corresponds to a comprehensive survey of almost all care providers in Germany. Method: Descriptive statistical methods and discussion of the results concerning the customer benefit. Results: The analysis of transparency reports reveals a limited value for customers, which is particularly caused by very good quality results with low scattering. In addition, a high amount of missing data - especially in the area of home care providers - leads to a growing influence of service criteria on the final grade. Though deficits in nursing might be compensated by good marks in service criteria, it rarely occurs. At present, a more detailed look at risk criteria hardly improves the customer benefit. Conclusion: The marks for nursing need to be improved to increase their informative value for the customer.