Dive Brief:
- CMS has updated its Nursing Home Compare Five-Star Quality Ratings to factor in five of six new measures that were announced in April.
- The measures focus on discharges, emergency visits, rehospitalizations, and improved or worsened function.
- The sixth measure that has not yet been incorporated aimed to look at the percentage of long-stay residents who received an antianxiety or hypnotic medication.
Dive Insight:
The new measures are being gradually phased in, getting counted at half their value as of July, and going to full value in January 2017, CMS said.
The measures drew notice upon their April announcement because they mark the first time CMS has incorporated measures that weren't solely based on nursing homes' self-reported data.
“With this update, star ratings will provide an even more accurate reflection of the services that nursing homes provide,” said CMS Deputy Administrator and CMO Patrick Conway.
The five incorporated measures look at the percentage of:
1. Short-stay residents successfully discharged to the community
2. Short-stay residents with an outpatient ED visit
3. Short-stay residents rehospitalized following a nursing home admission
4. Short-stay residents with improvements in function
5. Long-stay residents who saw their ability to move independently worsen
The sixth measure on the use of antianxiety/hypnotic medication has not been incorporated because the CMS has not yet determined appropriate benchmarks.
Nursing Home Compare was initially launched in 1998 and has since evolved to rely on three categories of data, (health inspections, staffing, and quality measures) which are then combined to establish an overall star rating.
"With the new quality measures added to the calculations, the quality measures star rating for each nursing home, as well as the overall rating, will likely change," the CMS noted.