Industry News

Check Quality of Nursing Homes on Medicare Web Site

On Tuesday, November 12, 2002, the Department of Health and Human Services posted current nursing-home data on its Medicare Web site www.medicare.gov.

You can check for Nursing Homes in Southern California (and then search by city) by clicking here.

The site shows how individual locations compare with others in their region. The site uses indicators such as what percentage of patients have bedsores or have lost the ability to perform basic daily tasks. Statistics on violations found during inspections and staffing levels are also available.

The new Web site can give people an idea of what is available in your area and is especially helpful in identifying homes where care is inadequate.

The 10 quality measures are broken down into six for long-term nursing-home residents and four for short-stay residents. For long-term residents, who live in the homes an average of two to three years, there are data showing the percentage with pain, infections and in physical restraints. For short-term patients, who stay an average of three to four weeks, the data show how many maintain or improve the ability to walk while at the home, as well as the percentage with delirium and pain.