In a groundbreaking move, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a star-rating system for the United States’ nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid.
Nursing homes are rated on a star scale of one to five stars. Five being the best rating and one being the worst. None of Emporia’s four nursing homes made the highest overall rating, which is five stars. The lowest rating that Emporia homes received was two stars. Emporia has four nursing homes on the list, Emporia Presbyterian Manor, 2300 Industrial Road, Emporia Rehabilitation Center, 221 W. Logan Ave., Flint Hills Care Center, 1620 Wheeler St., and Holiday Resort, 2700 W. 30th Ave.
The stars are based on health inspection surveys, staffing information and quality of care measurements, according to a press release from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The ratings are available online at www.medicare.gov under the link “Nursing Home Compare.”
“Our goal in developing this unprecedented quality rating system is to provide families a straightforward assessment of nursing home quality with meaningful distinctions between high and low performing homes,” said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. “The new information will also help consumers and families identify important questions to ask nursing homes and challenge nursing homes to improve their quality of care.”
Ratings are broken down into four areas: the overall rating, health inspection surveys, quality measures and staffing information. Health and safety inspections are based on surveys that are performed each year; quality measures uses 10 quality measures out of 19 that can be found on the Nursing Home Compare Web site; staffing information is based on staffing levels.
A five-star ranking means much above average, a four-star ranking means above average, a three star ranking means about average, a two-star ranking means below average and a one star ranking means much below average.
Weems said the ranking system isn’t the only tool to be used when choosing a nursing home.
“Because quality and conditions within a nursing home can change at any time, this system is not intended to be the only tool families use in selecting the right nursing facility for a loved one,” he said. “Nursing homes can make dramatic improvements between rating periods ... and nothing can substitute for visiting a nursing home.”
Mary Forsythe, administrator at Flint Hills Care Center, gave her reaction to the nursing home’s rating. The home received an overall two stars with two stars in health inspections, four stars in staffing, and one star in quality measure. Forsythe said the information that was used to rate the home is outdated. Information on the health inspections is based on three years of inspections.
“The information that you have is an average and it’s outdated,” Forsythe said. “They had last year’s survey.”
This year’s survey yielded very few deficiencies, Forsythe said. The nursing home received a letter from the Kansas Adult Care Executives congratulating them on their excellent survey this year.
“In the last year we have made dramatic changes to the facility,” Forsythe said. “We’re very proud of the positive changes in the last year.”
Forsythe said physical renovations have been made to meet the needs of residents and changes in programming have been implemented to be more resident-centered.
“Residents needs are changing,” she said. “We have definitely increased our outside activities in the facility so there’s a lot of community involvement. Our dining has changed to be more resident-centered with their interest and needs and we’re trying to go to as many private rooms as possible.”
Forsythe said inspection records are public and anybody can ask questions of the nursing home.
“All nursing homes are required to have all their survey information open to the public,” she said.