CMS Press Release May 13, 2002

MEDICARE NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CMS Public Affairs Office
Monday, May 13, 2002

CMS WEB SITE NOW INCLUDES RESULTS OF COMPLAINT INVESTIGATIONS OF NURSING HOMES

As part of its continuing efforts to give seniors and families more information on nursing home quality, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has now placed the results of complaint investigations on its Web site.

People who are looking into nursing home care, for themselves or a loved one, will find on the Web site the health deficiencies for nursing homes that have been cited as a result of investigations after complaints were filed.

This data is in addition to the existing inspection results for the three most recent state nursing home inspections currently reported on the CMS Web site.

"Our goal is to give consumers the information they need to make informed decisions about their health care," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said. "This new complaint information builds on the quality and inspection information already on Nursing Home Compare to help families choose the right nursing home for their needs."

The health deficiencies are confirmed problems resulting from onsite investigations. The health deficiency data is available on the Nursing Home Compare section of the CMS Web site, www.medicare.gov.

"We have the goal of improving the quality of care in our nursing homes," CMS Administrator Tom Scully said. "To reach that goal, it's necessary for patients, their families and caregivers to have complete information about deficiencies found in individual nursing homes as a result of complaint investigations."

State nursing home surveys are conducted every 9-15 months. Complaint investigations can occur at any time. When the problem identified in the complaint is confirmed, a deficiency is cited and included in Nursing Home Compare.

"This expansion of the data on Nursing Home Compare is one more step in CMS' continuing efforts to improve access to information that is important to people with Medicare in making health care decisions," Scully said.

Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services released new quality data that give seniors and their families comparative information about local nursing homes' quality of care. The six-state pilot project - involving nursing homes serving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington - is part of HHS' Nursing Home Quality Initiative to further improve the quality of care received by the 2.9 million Americans who live in nursing homes. Later this year, CMS will begin reporting quality measures for nursing homes nationwide.

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