Appropriateness of quality indicators for older patients with advanced dementia and poor prognosis.

Objectives: To evaluate the applicability of process-of-care quality indicators (QIs) to vulnerable elders and to measure the effect of excluding indicators based on patients' preferences and for advanced dementia and poor prognosis.

Design: The Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) project employed 203 QIs for care of 22 conditions (including six geriatric syndromes and 11 age-associated diseases) for community-based persons aged 65 and older at increased risk of functional decline or death. Relevant QIs were excluded for persons deciding against hospitalization or surgery.