


Beginning with the March 2009 version, the Technical Users’ Guide consists of two documents: the Five-Star Quality Rating System Technical Users’ Guide and the Five Star Quality Rating System State-Level Cut Point Tables. In the Downloads section below, the Five-Star Quality Rating System Technical Users’ Guide provides in-depth descriptions of the ratings and the methods used to calculate them. Consumers should therefore use the Web site only together with other sources of information for the nursing homes (including a visit to the nursing home) and State or local organizations (such as local advocacy groups and the State Ombudsman program). As such visits can improve both the residents’ quality of life and quality of care, it may often be better to select a nursing home that is very close over one that may be, compared to a higher rated nursing home that would be far away. Examples include the extent to which specialty care is provided (such as specialized rehabilitation or dementia care) or how easy it will be for family members to visit the nursing home resident. More than 12 million assessments of the conditions of nursing home residents are used in the Five-Star rating system.Ĭaution: No rating system can address all of the important consideration that go into a decision about which nursing home may be best for a particular person. The QMs offer information about how well nursing homes are caring for their residents’ physical and clinical needs. This information is collected by the nursing home for all residents. The rating now includes information about nursing homes’ use of antipsychotic medications in both long-stay and short-stay residents.


The Nursing Home Compare Web site features a quality rating system that gives each nursing home a rating of between 1 and 5 stars. CMS created the Five-Star Quality Rating System to help consumers, their families, and caregivers compare nursing homes more easily and to help identify areas about which you may want to ask questions.
