CMS Strengthens Five Star Quality Rating System for Nursing Homes
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today strengthened the
Five Star Quality Rating System for Nursing Homes on the
Nursing Home Compare
website to give families more precise and meaningful information on
quality when they consider facilities for themselves or a loved one.
Today’s announcement also marks an important milestone to achieving the
goal of implementing further improvements to the
Five Star system in 2015, as the
Administration announced last October.
Star ratings allow users to see important differences in quality
among nursing homes to help them make better care decisions. CMS rates
nursing homes on three categories: results from onsite inspections by
trained surveyors, performance on certain quality measures, and levels
of staffing. CMS uses these three categories to offer an overall star
rating, but consumers can see and focus on any of the three individual
categories.
Beginning today, nursing home star ratings will:
- Include use of antipsychotics in calculation of the star ratings.
These medications are often used for diagnoses that do not warrant them.
The two existing quality measures – for short stay and long stay
patients – will now be part of the calculation for the quality measures
star rating.
- Have improved calculations for staffing levels. Research indicates
that staffing is important to overall quality in a nursing home.
- Reflect higher standards for nursing homes to achieve a high rating on the quality measure dimension on the website.
“CMS is committed to improving
Nursing Home Compare and the
Five Star Quality Rating System
to ensure they are the most trusted and easy-to-use resources we can
provide,” said Patrick Conway, M.D., CMS Deputy Administrator for
Innovation and Quality and Chief Medical Officer for CMS.
“Consumers can
feel confident that Nursing Home Compare’s star ratings include
measures that matter most to nursing home residents and their families
and challenge nursing homes to continuously improve care.”
Since CMS standards for performance on quality measures are
increasing, many nursing homes will see a decline in their quality
measures star rating. By making this change, Nursing Home Compare will
include more meaningful distinctions in performance for consumers and
focus nursing homes on continuously improving care focused on residents,
families, and their caregivers. About two thirds of nursing homes will
see a decline in their quality measures rating and about one third of
nursing homes will experience a decline in their Overall Five Star
Rating.
For example, before the recalibration, about 80 percent of nursing
homes received either a 4 or 5-star rating on their quality measures.
Now, about 49 percent of nursing homes will receive a 4 or 5 stars on
their quality measure rating. Also, the number of nursing homes
receiving one star for their quality measures has increased from 8.5
percent to 13 percent after the recalibration.
CMS is also focusing changes in areas identified by consumers and
other stakeholders as important. For example, by the end of 2013 nursing
homes achieved a 15 percent reduction in the use of anti-psychotics
compared to 2011 levels. As part of the National Partnership to Improve
Dementia Care, CMS is working with the nursing home community, patients,
families and other important stakeholders to achieve a 30 percent
reduction by the end of CY2016.
The
Nursing Home Compare website was launched in 1998, and CMS added the
Five Star Quality Rating System (“
NH Compare 2.0”) in 2008.
Nursing Home Compare
gets approximately 1.4 million visits per year and users report high
satisfaction with the site. More than 85 percent of users have indicated
that they found the information they were seeking. CMS recommends that
consumers rely on multiple factors – including star ratings, visits and
community reputation -- when selecting a nursing home.
To achieve better care, smarter spending and healthier people, the
Department of Health and Human Services is focused on sharing
information more broadly to providers, consumers, and others to support
better decisions while enforcing patient privacy. The
Five Star Quality Rating System
for Nursing Homes is part of an administration-wide effort to increase
the availability and accessibility of information on quality,
utilization and costs for effective, informed decision-making by
consumers.
Ref:
http://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2015-Fact-sheets-items/2015-02-12-2.html.