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This paper reports a research project on regulation and de-regulation in the Oregon nursing home industry. It investigates two contrasting public-policy views of the regulatory process, capture and majoritarian. The focus of this investigation is on the following issues: the relative benefits and costs of regulatory compliance; patients' rights; the intent of regulation; regulatory complications, duplications, contradictions, and inconsistencies; and whether compliance is measured in terms of activities or performance. Local and national representatives of three groups were surveyed: patient advocates, providers of nursing-home care, and state and federal regulatory personnel. These groups' perceptions of the issues are identified; patterns of similarity and dissimilarity among the groups are examined; and inferences are drawn regarding the implications of these patterns for the competing public-policy views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]