Nursing Home Important Information

Understanding Nursing Home Quality Measures

Quality Data

Nursing homes regularly collect assessment information on all their residents using a form called the Minimum Data Set. The information collected includes the residents' health, physical functioning, mental status, and general well being. Nursing homes self-report this information to Medicare.

Quality Measures

Medicare uses some of the assessment information to measure the quality of certain aspects of nursing home care, like whether residents have gotten their flu shots, are in pain, or are losing weight. These measures of care are called "quality measures." Medicare posts each nursing home's scores for these quality measures on this website. By comparing scores, you can evaluate how nursing homes may differ from one another.

You can use the quality measures in the following ways:

1. To choose a nursing home for yourself or others
2. To find out about the care at nursing homes where you or family members already live
3. When you talk to nursing home staff about the quality of care

Nursing homes can use the quality measures to review and improve the quality of the care they give to residents.

Keep These Things in Mind

The quality measures on Nursing Home Compare:

• Aren't benchmarks, thresholds, guidelines, or standards of care, and aren't appropriate for use in a lawsuit.
• Are based on care given to all the residents in a nursing home, not to individual residents.

Most of these quality measures reflect residents' conditions during the seven days before the assessment was done. Therefore, the quality measures may not represent the residents' clinical conditions during the entire time period between assessments.

Visit the Nursing Homes You are Considering

The quality measures give you a snapshot of the care given by nursing homes. Visit the nursing homes you are considering to meet the care team (nurses, certified nursing assistants, and therapists), watch how they treat residents, and see for yourself the quality of living conditions and the general nursing home environment. Take a copy of the Nursing Home Checklist found on this website so you know what to check for and what questions to ask.

Call your State Survey Agency or Long-Term Care Ombudsman for additional information (see Helpful Contacts).

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