You may already use our Nursing Home Compare site to compare nursing homes and choose one with quality in mind. We know that nursing homes vary in the quality of care and services they provide to their residents. That’s why we’ve recently updated the ratings on Nursing Home Compare to include new quality measures, giving you even more accurate information.
The new measures include percent of short-stay residents:
- Who were successfully discharged
- Who have had an outpatient emergency department visit
- Who were re-hospitalized after a nursing home admission
- Who made improvements in function
- Whose ability to move independently worsened
Nursing homes get star ratings for specific elements, like health inspections, staffing, and quality measures. They also get an overall rating that’s calculated by combining the star ratings for each of the elements. Now that we’ve added the new measures to the calculations, you may notice that the star quality ratings for nursing homes (as well as the overall rating) have changed. The star quality rating system isn’t a substitute for visiting the nursing home, but can give you important information, help you compare nursing homes by topics you consider most important, and help you think of questions to ask when you visit the nursing home.
Sharing quality information through star ratings is just one example of how we’re committed to helping you make health care decisions based upon available information. We’ve added quality ratings to our Dialysis Facility Compare and Home Health Compare sites to help to make data on dialysis centers and home health agencies easier to understand and use. Our Physician Compare site has started to include star ratings in certain situations for physician large group practices, and our Hospital Compare site has an overall star rating for hospitals, and uses star ratings for patients’ experience of care. Check out our compare sites today to get the information you need to best manage your health.
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