CMS has announced that it will make a series of improvements to the Nursing Home Five Star Quality Rating System, including additional quality measures, new data verification processes, and a revised quality scoring methodology. Among other things:

  • CMS will add a new quality measure on antipsychotic medication use starting January 2015, and include claims-based data on re-hospitalization and community discharge rates in the future.
  • CMS and states will implement focused survey inspections for a sample of nursing homes to verify staffing and quality measure information, effective January 2015.
  • CMS will implement a quarterly electronic reporting system that is auditable back to payrolls to verify staffing information and allow for the calculation of staffing-related quality measures.
  • CMS will strengthen requirements to ensure that states maintain a user-friendly website and complete timely, accurate nursing home inspections for inclusion in the rating system.
  • CMS will revise the methodology used to calculate each facility’s quality measure rating in 2015.