May 22, 2026
A new study published in The Gerontologist found that Section GG and Section G, two measures used to assess function in skilled nursing facilities, capture related but distinct aspects of patient functioning, suggesting caution when comparing scores derived from the two instruments.
Real World Data Scholar Kenneth Lam and IMPACT members Elizabeth M. White, Kevin W. McConeghy, and Vincent Mor co-author this paper describing the teams examination of how function is measured in Section GG and Section G and whether scores from the two instruments can be interpreted interchangeably. Section GG replaced Section G as the primary functional assessment instrument in skilled nursing facilities in 2023.
The researchers analyzed more than 1.1 million Minimum Data Set assessments collected from about 2,200 skilled nursing facilities between 2018 and 2023. While several Section GG items were highly correlated with similar Section G items, the analyses showed that the two instruments did not measure a single underlying construct. Instead, items from each instrument generally grouped into separate but related factors.
The study also found differences in what each instrument captures. In item response theory analyses, Section GG was better at distinguishing levels of independence, while Section G was better at capturing levels of dependence.
These findings suggest that scales and scores developed using Section G should not automatically be assumed to be equivalent when recreated using Section GG. According to the authors, additional research is needed to determine when and how measures from the two instruments can be compared across studies and over time.
Access the full article here.