Medicare “Five Star” Program based on Three Categories
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has established a rating system to be used in determining the overall quality of a nursing home. The Five-Star quality rating system was created in order to aid caregivers, families and consumers with the comparison of available nursing homes. The rating system is measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 correlating with care that is of substantially higher than average quality. They would then correlate with care that is far below the average standard. The rating of a nursing home is calculated using three different categories, each which receives its own rating. These category ratings are then used to calculate the overall 5 star rating.
The three separate categories that are rated include quality measures, staffing and health inspections. The rating of quality measures is based on a number of clinical and physical measures of a resident of the nursing home. Information of the 10 specific measures is collected for every member of a nursing home and then analyzed. Some of these measures include and mobility changes, or increased bed sores and other ailments. These are all used as indicators of the type of care residents receive in relation to their clinical and physical requirements.
The rating for staffing is rather simple and based on the amount of hours that each resident receives care on a daily basis by health care providers. When this rating is being calculated the required care level is taken into account and based off of case severity. Health Inspections rating is inclusive of all inspections in the past 3 years.
