The effect of private versus shared rooms on nursing home resident health outcomes

GOLTC QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Interest Group webinar

Date: 7 July 2026

Nursing home care presents a significant fiscal challenge in the U.S., with an aging population increasing demand and an industry plagued by decades of poor quality of care. With the need for systemic change spotlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic, one proposed solution is more private rooms. Despite growing interest, policymakers lack critical evidence required to determine whether policy should incentivize nursing homes to provide more private rooms: do private rooms actually improve residents’ health? This study provides the first causal estimates of the effect of receiving a private room on post-acute nursing home residents’ health outcomes.

The webinar covered:

1. Introduction to the Global Observatory of Long-Term care and welcome (Adelina Comas-Herrera, Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, LSE, UK).
2. Introduction to the GOLTC Quasi-Experimental Methods Interest Group (Javiera Cartagena-Farías, CPEC at LSE, UK)
3. The effect of private versus shared rooms on nursing home resident health outcomes (Dianne McWilliam, University of Michigan, USA)
4. Discussion chaired by Professor Agustín Martinez-Molina (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and IMSERSO, Spain)