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Five-Star Rating System

On December 18, 2008, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a new Five-Star Rating System for nursing homes. You can use this system to compare nursing homes in your area on several extremely important indicators of quality:

• Adequacy of nursing staff (including RNs, LPNs and Nursing Assistants).
• Performance on quality measures—whether they prevent pressure sores, don’t restrain their residents, prevent urinary tract infections, maintain residents’ ability to walk and perform daily activities, treat pain and don’t catheterize residents for staff’s convenience.
• Performance on inspections.

The Five-Star Quality Rating System is not a one-stop tool for choosing a nursing home. You should recognize that some of the data is self-reported and that the nursing home may have changed since the information was posted. (Consumer Voice is working with the nursing home industry and CMS to improve the way information is collected and reported. See our recent letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius about the rating system, Consumer Voice and Advocates Nationwide Ask Secretary Sebelius to Keep 5 Star Quality Rating System.) It is still critically important to visit the facility; talk to residents, families, and others who have experienced the quality of the care it provides; consult with your state or local ombudsman; and ask the nursing home to share its most recent inspection (survey) report with you. It is required by law to let you see it.

Experts say the system is most accurate at detecting the best (five-star) and worst (one-star) facilities. Use extreme caution in choosing a One-Star or Two-Star home unless you have checked it out very carefully. But don’t choose any nursing home without good research.

For more information about choosing a nursing home, click here.

Click here to find and compare nursing homes on the CMS website: Nursing Home Compare.

For more information about the Five-Star Rating System, including answers to common questions, see the CMS website.