GAO Assesses Five-Star Rating System

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) study assessed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Nursing Home Compare Website and the Five-Star Nursing Home Rating System.

GAO assessed the website and rating system as tools for consumers. It examined (1) the information CMS collects about the use of Nursing Home Compare, including its usefulness to consumers, and potential areas, if any, to improve the website, and (2) the extent to which the Five-Star System enables consumers to understand nursing home quality and make distinctions between homes. GAO reviewed CMS documents and interviewed CMS officials, as well as national and a non-generalizable sample of state-level stakeholders from four states, selected on factors such as size. It also analyzed Five-Star System and consumer complaint data and analyzed resident satisfaction data from two of the four selected states.

GAO makes four recommendations, including that CMS establish a process to evaluate and prioritize website improvements, add information to the Five-Star System that allows homes to be compared nationally, and evaluate the feasibility of adding consumer satisfaction data.

HHS agreed with three of GAO’s recommendations but did not agree to add national comparison information. GAO maintains that this is important information, as discussed in the report.

Contact: Elliott Frost, efrost@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8832