Top-quality nursing homes harder to access with mental health issues

Even people with common and often treatable mental health problems like depression and anxiety may have a harder time than patients without these diagnoses getting admitted to a high-quality nursing home, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers examined data on more than 3.7 million admissions to 15,600 facilities nationwide from 2012 to 2014. By the last year of the study, people with depression and anxiety were 8 percent less likely to gain admission to a nursing home with the highest Medicare quality rating of five stars than individuals without mental health problems, the study found.