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CMS Announces 5-Star Nursing Facility Rating System |
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CMS Announces 5-Star Nursing Facility Rating System
The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced it will soon launch a
ranking system of America’s nursing facilities, giving each a “star”
rating. CMS is requesting comments on the system designed to provide
patients and their families an easy to understand assessment of nursing home
quality, making meaningful distinctions between high performing and low
performing homes. This will be the first time that CMS will offer such a rating
system for the Medicare program. Currently, through the Compare Web site, CMS
assists beneficiaries and their families in making nursing facility choices by
providing information on individual measures of quality of care, staffing, and
survey inspection information. According to CMS, the ratings will be posted on
the agency’s Nursing Home Compare website
by the end of this year. A sample screen shot of the proposed star ratings is
available at Five Star.
The agency is also considering adding new information to that already available
on Nursing Home Compare such as whether a nursing home specializes in caring for
patients with dementia, on ventilators, or in need of specialized rehabilitation
services. Information on patient and family satisfaction with services at a
facility may also be added to Nursing Home Compare. A “Guide to Choosing a
Nursing Home,” a publication that includes information about the types of
long-term care, local nursing home comparisons, and how to pay for nursing home
care, can also be found on the site. OHCA and AHCA will be providing input,
particularly related to the critical value of consumer satisfaction data being
part of this system.
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How to Pay for Care 
