The Chicago Reporter combined ranking, staffing, inspection and quality data from Nursing Home Compare. The data were joined with 2007 racial composition data from Professor Vincent Mor of Brown University, which did not include percentages for racial groups of which there were fewer than 11 residents at the home. The Reporter compiled databases of violations through the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Web site and of court cases filed against each Chicago home in the Cook County Circuit Court. They were also combined with the data from Mor and Nursing Home Compare. The Reporter used 2007 Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services data to determine the number and percentage of days of resident care paid for by Medicaid. To determine ownership of the most poorly rated homes, the Reporter combined data on the percentage of ownership for each home provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health with data from Mor and Nursing Home Compare. The department did not provide data for
providers that owned less than 5 percent of an individual home.