Nursing Home Segregation and Quality of Care.

Background: Racial segregation is believed to play a critical role in enforcing racial disparities in nursing home quality. In this study, we test whether segregation exacerbates racial disparities in nursing home quality.

Methods: We used data from the 2023 Minimum Data Set (MDS) and 2025 public use files on nursing home quality from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to compare the quality of nursing homes with a high versus low proportion of Black residents and assess whether that relationship varied depending on the level of racial segregation among nursing homes in the county. Racial segregation was measured based on how Black and non-Hispanic White nursing home residents were distributed across nursing homes in a county. Nursing home quality measures included: star ratings, nursing turnover rates, adjusted staffing hours, and inspection deficiency scores.

Results: Racial disparities existed at all levels of segregation. Nursing home segregation was associated with widening disparities in inspection deficiency scores; no statistically significant association was found between segregation and racial disparities in star rating, nursing turnover rates, or adjusted staffing hours.

Conclusions: Racial disparities in nursing home quality are stark, with disparities in inspection deficiency scores exacerbated in counties with more segregated nursing home markets. These findings highlight the need for targeted policies to mitigate the impact of systemic disinvestment on nursing homes that serve a high proportion of Black residents.