Consumers should therefore use the Web site only together with other sources of information for the nursing homes (including a visit to the nursing home) and State or local organizations (such as local advocacy groups and the State Ombudsman program). As such visits can improve both the residents' quality of life and quality of care, it may often be better to select a nursing home that is very close over one that may be, compared to a higher rated nursing home that would be far away. Examples include the extent to which specialty care is provided (such as specialized rehabilitation or dementia care) or how easy it will be for family members to visit the nursing home resident. The QMs offer information about how well nursing homes are caring for their residents’ physical and clinical needs.Ĭaution: No rating system can address all of the important considerations that go into a decision about which nursing home may be best for a particular person.

Quality Measures (QMs) – The quality measure rating has information on 15 different physical and clinical measures for nursing home residents.

For example, a nursing home with residents who had more severe needs would be expected to have more nursing staff than a nursing home where the resident needs were not as high. This rating considers differences in the levels of residents' care need in each nursing home.

Staffing – The staffing rating has information about the number of hours of care provided on average to each resident each day by nursing staff.

The most recent survey findings are weighted more than the prior year. This information is gathered by trained, objective inspectors who go onsite to the nursing home and follow a specific process to determine the extent to which a nursing home has met Medicaid and Medicare’s minimum quality requirements.

Health Inspections – The health inspection rating contains the 3 most recent health inspections and investigations due to complaints.

There is one Overall 5-star rating for each nursing home, and a separate rating for each of the following three sources of information: Nursing homes with 5 stars are considered to have much above average quality and nursing homes with 1 star are considered to have quality much below average. The Nursing Home Compare Web site features a quality rating system that gives each nursing home a rating of between 1 and 5 stars. Refer to CMS memoranda: QSO 20-01-NH (PDF) & QSO 20-02-NH (PDF).ĬMS created the Five-Star Quality Rating System to help consumers, their families, and caregivers compare nursing homes more easily and to help identify areas about which you may want to ask questions.

October 7, 2019Ĭhanges were announced to the Five-Star Quality Rating System that will be implemented in October 2019. We’ve also improved Medicare’s compare sites. Now available! Our new Provider Data Catalog makes it easier for you to search & download our publicly reported data.

More life zip