Dr. Arling's research interests are in health care quality assessment, evaluation, and policy analysis. Much of his research has been with elderly populations in long-term care settings. He has helped develop comprehensive measures of care quality, assessed the accuracy and effectiveness of these measures, and applied them to quality improvement, public reporting and pay-for-performance. He also has studied transitions between care settings, such as hospital, nursing home, and community care. He has been a principal or co-investigator on projects supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Veterans Health Administration, National Institute on Aging, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and state Medicaid programs.