5-Star Rating Update

There has been an update to the CMS 5-Star Nursing Home Rating System Methodology / Technical User’s Guide:

Up until the September Update, facility ratings were subject to change based on the performance of the other facilities in their respective state - ratings could change without the facility doing a thing, i.e., no new surveys / survey data, etc.

This has changed: As of the Update on 9/2409 – [found on page 6 of the Technical User’s Guide: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CertificationandComplianc/Downloads/usersguide.pdf ] “…facility ratings will be held constant until new health inspection/survey data or new complaint information, or new 2nd, 3rd, or 4th revisit information becomes available…”

The facility’s rating will no longer change from month-to-month absent new survey information specific to the facility, regardless of changes in the State-wide distribution due to new surveys in other facilities.

CMS states in the User’s Guide that it is still recalibrating the cut points each month “so that the distribution of star ratings within the States remains relatively constant over time in an effort to reduce the likelihood that the ratings process affects the health inspection process.” We have requested further clarification on this will work, i.e., with the recalibration and the forced distribution of star ratings still in place.