Feds increase grading standards on Nursing Home Compare site

Federal officials announced this week that the government’s Nursing Home Compare site will begin using a tougher grading scale, including increasing scrutiny of nursing homes' use of anti-psychotic drugs and raising standards for a number of quality measures (Source: “Government To Grade Nursing Homes On Tougher Scale,” Kaiser Health News, Feb. 12, 2015).

 The system has come under recent criticism with complaints that some highly rated nursing homes have numerous problems and face fines and other enforcement actions. In announcing changes to Nursing Home Compare on Thursday, the federal government said it would require nursing homes to do more to get higher quality scores.

Among the better-known measures that go into quality scores are the percentages of residents who develop bed sores or are injured in falls. The scores will now count the percentage of residents given anti-psychotic drugs, reflecting concern that too many are unnecessarily drugged to make them easier to manage.