This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released two new data tools as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing initiative to increase transparency around the corporate ownership and operation of nursing homes.
The announcement builds on reforms CMS launched last fall to make it easier for researchers and consumers to find owners of multiple nursing homes and track the performance of those facilities. Under that effort, CMS published previously unavailable data identifying groups of nursing homes linked together by common owners and operators, referred to as “affiliated entities.”
CMS is now making this affiliated entity information available on Nursing Home Care Compare, its primary tool to help consumers evaluate Medicare-certified nursing homes. In so doing, CMS aims to “increase the transparency of nursing homes’ ownership and operatorship for consumers, allowing them to make more informed decisions about their care.”
CMS is also publishing new data on safety, staffing, and quality for nursing homes with shared owners and operators. This is similarly intended to improve access to and awareness of safety and quality data regarding nursing homes with shared ownership and operatorship structures. CMS notes it can also be used by states to gain insights prior to certifying new nursing homes and during change of ownership requests.
Medicare Rights appreciates the administration’s attention to nursing home transparency and oversight. Such changes could better protect older adults and people with disabilities, improve consumer decision-making, and hold nursing homes accountable.
Importantly, no nursing home reforms can alter the desires of people with Medicare who prefer to remain in or return to their homes and communities safely. We continue to call on Congress to better fund Medicaid home- and community-based services and to otherwise help more people live with dignity and choice.
Read more about the administration’s nursing home reform initiative.
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