Public Reporting of Performance Indicators in Long-Term Care in Canada: Does it Make a Difference?

Evidence of the impact of public reporting of health care performance on quality improvement is not yet sufficient for definitive conclusions to be drawn, despite the important policy implications. This study explored the association of public reporting of performance indicators of long-term care facilities in Canada with performance trends. We considered 16 performance indicators in long-term care in Canada, 8 of which are publicly reported at a facility level, whereas the other 8 are not publicly reported, between the fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2018-2019. Data from 1,087 long-term care facilities were included. Improving trends were observed among publicly reported indicators more often than among indicators that were not publicly reported. Our analysis also suggests that the association between publication of data and improvement is stronger among indicators for which there was no improvement prior to publication and among the worst performing facilities.