In July 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will provide rates of hospitalizations for long-stay residents. This will be given to providers in their confidential Nursing Home Compare report. In October 2018, the long-stay hospitalization measure will be posted on Nursing Home Compare, and it will be included in the Five Star Quality Rating System in the spring of 2019. Claims-based measures reported on Nursing Home Compare will be updated in July 2018.
The number of hours worked by other staff, non-nursing, will be posted on data.cms.gov in July 2018, and CMS will distinguish between direct employees and contract staff. In October 2019, CMS will resume posting the average number of citations per inspection and will begin calculations in the spring of 2019, ending the “freeze” on health inspection scores. CMS states they will communicate more details about these changes prior to implementation.

The Five Star Rating Technical User Guide can be found by clicking here.