On December 18, 2008, CMS posted quality ratings for the nation’s Medicare- and Medicaid-participating nursing homes on the CMS Nursing Home Compare Web site. Each facility has been assigned a “star rating” based on health inspection results, quality measures, and staffing levels. CMS acknowledges certain limits to its rating system, including, among other things, state variations in inspection and licensing requirements, the fact that the staffing levels represent just a “snap-shot in time,” and lack of adjustments in quality measures for differences in nursing home patient populations. CMS recommends that the nursing home quality rating system be used with other sources of information.