Evaluating Your Facility Is Easier Than You Think

I just came across an article in McKnight’s that CMS will post more nursing home deficiency data online next month. That’s great news for the consumer. They can already go to the Nursing Home Compare website and get a lot of information. The site starts with the general information page that summarizes the number of stars the specific facility has across the key areas of Inspection Results, Staffing, and Quality Measures.

Remember, the user is trying to make a decision about a facility. What they see on that first page may be enough to stop them from exploring any further, if they don’t like what they see. In my opinion, that’s enough to make every provider nervous about the public data every user has access to. The Five-Star Rating is your outward reputation for potential consumers.

I found the data below with a quick search of the Nursing Home Compare website. Would you rather be facility one or two?

Every facility should have a process where they regularly monitor the Five-Star Nursing Home Quality Rating System for accuracy. For one thing, the data is collected manually so the chance for mistake is there. In fact, I’ve seen instances where the data has been reported incorrectly on a measure and the facility receives the default of one star when they should have had more.

Everyone has access to the information and is using it to make decisions. Consumers are trying to decide what facilities are best suited for them or their loved ones. Hospitals want to send their patients to facilities that are most likely to reduce unnecessary readmissions.

You may want to check out a previous blog ACOs – Want In? Prove You Deserve It for more information. Facilities need to be acutely conscious of how the quickly-expanding ACO trend will affect them and work to shore up their processes, especially the ones they have control over, such as staffing, to improve the rating measures. And did you know that receiving 4 or 5 stars on the staffing quality measure gets you an extra free star on your overall rating?