Buyers' Behavior.

An extract from the annual Nursing Homes/Long Term Care Management Market Study

Every year for the past seven years, Nursing Homes/Long Term Care Management has surveyed its readers to find out what sorts of equipment, supplies and services they're buying. The magazine then projects the results, not to the entire nursing home "universe," but to the universe of its readers--and that comes close. Reaching nearly 22,000 facilities (including assisted living) having 50 or more beds and ranging across the for-profit, not-forprofit and government-funded sectors, the magazine's readership encompasses 92% of all homes and 97% of all occupied beds.

Response to the survey has been in the 20 to 30% range. Applying the responses to the publication's universe as a whole, the survey indicates the total dollar amounts spent on specific products and services, the overall purchasing mix and how purchasing patterns compare from year to year.

Here (published for the first time) are graphic results from the two most recent studies--a pie chart showing the purchasing amounts and product mix of 1999 and a bar graph showing how these figures compared with those of 1998. The result is a product-by-product snapshot of buyers' behavior in the long-term care field.