Casey seeks review of nursing home rating system
With 12 nursing homes in Washington County, two in Greene County and many more in surrounding areas, choosing the best facility for a loved one can be a painstaking decision.
One tool designed to aid prospective residents and their families is the Five-Star Quality Rating System, which rates facilities based on their health inspections, staffing levels and quality.
However, in light of recent media reports, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is calling for an assessment of that system, which is administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Pennsylvania Democrat sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office in Washington, D.C., requesting a comprehensive review to ensure the system is accurate and reliable.
“This is a matter that we have to get right because most families, when they’re trying to make this difficult decision, they want to know that their loved one is going to get quality care … in a place that they can feel secure when their loved ones are there,” Casey said.
The New York Times reported earlier this year the star ratings of nearly a third of nursing homes across the nation were lowered amidst criticism that the ratings were “inaccurate and artificially inflated.” The overhaul was partly a result of new standards that added quality measures for antipsychotic medication use, Casey said.
In his letter, Casey asked about the reliability and timeliness of the data used to rate facilities. He also questioned whether there were any meaningful differences between a four-star rating and a five-star rating.
According to Casey, the rating system is used not only by consumers, but also by doctors, who often base their referral decisions on the ratings.
Pennsylvania has about 700 nursing homes with more than 88,200 beds. The average occupancy rate of those facilities is about 91 percent.
“This is an ongoing effort that is relevant to federal government oversight, and it’s obviously a major issue for our states,” Casey said of the rating system. “This is not a government question, per se. This is a family question.”