The purpose of this study was to describe how Minimum Data Set (MDS) Coordinators' relationship patterns influence nursing home care processes. The MDS Coordinator potentially interacts with staff across the nursing home to coordinate care processes of resident assessment and care planning. We know little about how MDS Coordinators enact this role or to what extent they may influence particular care processes beyond paper compliance. Guided by complexity science and using two nursing home case studies as examples (pseudonyms Sweet Dell and Safe Harbor), we describe MDS Coordinators' relationship patterns by assessing the extent to which they used and fostered the relationship parameters of good connections, new information flow, and cognitive diversity in their work. Sweet Dell MDS Coordinators fostered new information flow, good connections, and cognitive diversity, which positively influenced assessment and care planning. In contrast, Safe Harbor MDS Coordinators did little to foster good connections, information flow, or cognitive diversity with little influence on care processes. This study revealed that MDS Coordinators are an important new source of capacity for the nursing home industry to improve quality of care. Findings suggest ways to enhance this capacity
