Six new quality measurements are being set up to measure the quality of care given at nursing homes.
A five star quality measuring system has long been in place for nursing homes and can be checked on the Nursing Home Compare system on the Medicare website. Six new measurements will soon be added.
Anyone interested in information can look up detailed information about the nursing home, including whether it has received any penalties. And, the five-star system makes it easy to quickly compare different nursing homes against each other.
Of course, the ratings are only as good as the information that goes into making them.
McKnight’s reports that the government will soon be adding six new measurements to the ratings in “6 new quality measures coming to Nursing Home Compare, Five-Star rating system.”
The new measurements include:
- Percentage of people staying less than 100 days who had an emergency room visit.
- Percentage of short stays who were sent home and not soon thereafter readmitted to another nursing home or hospital and who did not die within 30 days.
- Percentage of short stays who were hospitalized after admission.
- Percentage of short stays whose physical functioning and locomotion improved.
- Percentage of residents of over 100 days whose independent movement got worse.
- Percentage of long stays who were prescribed hypnotic or anti-anxiety medication.
Some of the measurements will be phased in over the next nine months.
An elder law attorney could be helpful in looking into nursing home care.
