On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it plans to launch a “five star” ranking system for nursing homes not unlike the way hotels and restaurants are rated. The new system will be part of the agency’s Nursing Home Compare Web site.

 

According to CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems, “The new ‘five-star’ rating system will provide a composite view of the quality and safety information currently on Nursing Home Compare to help beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers compare nursing homes more easily.”

 

While many in the nursing-home field support a system to rate the quality of a provider, one area of concern about Mr. Weems’ plan is that it is based on inconsistent data taken from state surveys of homes. State surveyors are often underfunded and undermotivated. A GAO report issued in May reflects this fact, finding “approximately 70 percent of federal comparative surveys identified state surveys missing at least one deficiency at the lowest level of noncompliance, and in all but five states the number of state surveys with such missed deficiencies was greater than 40 percent.”

 

At AAHSA, we believe a rating system that helps consumers identify both high and low performing nursing homes is essential. Consumers deserve nothing less than a reliable seal of approval for the best nursing homes in America.

 

To be reliable, it’s important that a rating system be based on four essential pillars: resident and family satisfaction, staffing based on resident needs that measures nursing hours and staff satisfaction, clinical quality outcomes, and public oversight. Each of these pillars needs to be based on up-to-date and valid data.

 

We’re already working with CMS and other stakeholders on the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes campaign to strengthen all four of these pillars, enhance quality in nursing homes and increase the public’s trust. We believe there should be two types of nursing homes: the excellent and the non-existent.