Nursing Home Ratings: Our Rating System

My Caring Plan gathers information from sources across the web to give you nursing home ratings across the nation. My Caring Plan’s goal is to have one place you can go to find all the information you need to find the best care for your loved one. Start your search here.

Our nursing home data sources

Our primary data source is Nursing Home Compare from the Medicare.gov website. Nursing Home Compare gathers tens of thousands of data points on nursing homes across the country.

Our nursing home rating metrics

Health and Fire Safety Rating

These ratings are conducted roughly once a year but are performed more regularly if the nursing home isn’t meeting certain expectations.

Health Inspection

Generally, the inspection rating considers the following and more:

• The care of residents and the processes used to give that care
• How the staff and residents interact
• The nursing home environment

Sometimes interviews are even conducted on the health staff, the residents, and the resident’s families.

Fire Inspection

The fire inspection considers aspects such as building design, construction, and the home’s ability to protect against electrical failures, gas leaks, and more.

Complaints and Citations

The government sometimes will investigate specific facilities if they receive complaints. These inspections can lead to citations. Citations are issued when certain aspects of the nursing home do not meet government standards.

Staffing Rating

The staffing rating considers the following positions

• Registered Nurse (RN): Registered Nurses are responsible for the overall delivery of care to residents. Responsibilities include monitoring, recording, and reporting symptom changes. Nursing homes must have at least one RN for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) and Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN): LPNs and LVNs are assistants to registered nurses who help them conduct overall care for residents. Generally, these nurses have less formal training than registered nurses but more than nurse aides.
• Nurse Aides: Nurse aides work under registered nurses and provide help with bathing, grooming, dressing, transferring, and more. Nurse aides must go through an evaluation program within four months of employment.
• Physical Therapist (PT): Physical therapists work on helping residents improve mobility and strength. They can be extremely helpful in assisting residents in gaining back their independence. Physical therapists must go through extended education after college.

Quality Rating

Quality ratings consider both long-term and short-term stays. You can find information on both types of stays on My Caring Plan.

Penalties and Fines

Fines and created when citations are made or when a citation is not corrected. Sometimes a payment denial can occur when the government refuses to pay Medicare or Medicaid to the nursing home. If the nursing home continues to fail to meet expectations, then certification can be taken away.

Abuse

An abuse indicator has been added recently to the Nursing Home Compare data source. This indicator shows when a nursing home has been cited for abuse.

SFF

SFF or Special Focus Facility are nursing homes that have more problems than other homes. Generally, these facilities continue to have issues that either recur or the facilities have a more significant number of problems overall. After 18-24 months, there are three outcomes of a nursing home that has been designated an SFF.

1. The nursing home improves and comes off of SFF
2. Medicare and Medicaid stop payments to the nursing home
3. The nursing home continues to be assigned SFF for a more extended period as progress is shown, but there are still improvements to be made

Sources:

1. Nursing homes including rehab services, CMS.gov, data.cms.gov