APPLYING RUC-III IN JAPANESE LONG-TERM-CARE FACILITIES

A U.S. nursing home case-mix system, Resource Utilization Group, Versi on III (RUG-III), was tested in a variety of Japanese long-term care f acilities. Staff time and resident characteristics were measured for a sample of 871 patients. Acceptable reliability was found for items de fining RUC-III, and the system explained 44% of the variance in wage-w eighted staff time (cost). Also, Japanese and U.S. costs had similar p atterns across RUG-III categories. However, there was wide discrepancy between the stated purpose of Japanese facilities and their patient p opulations, and the current payment mechanism did not reflect actual u se of resources.