New rating system sizes up nursing homes in Utah

Many of Utah's nursing homes score below or much below average in a quality ratings system unveiled Thursday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The five-star rating system, which is part of a federal nationwide quality improvement project begun six years ago last month, has been added in an effort to make choosing a nursing home easier and more informed, a spokesman for CMS said.

Of the 93 Utah nursing homes reviewed by the government, 22 ranked below average (two stars) and 17 have an overall quality rating of one star, the lowest score possible.

All ratings are available at Medicare's Nursing Home Compare Web site www.medicare.gov/nhcompare.

Only seven received the highest ranking, which was based on recent inspection results, staffing levels and several other quality measures such as general health and the number of long-term care related illnesses such as bed sores.

Most nursing homes are either above average (26) or average (18)in Utah. Nationwide, one-fifth of the country's 17,000 nursing homes managed only a single star rating.

The new star rating factors into the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' general health-care reform effort that targets consumer involvement and more transparency of service outcomes being promoted by HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt.

During a Thanksgiving visit to Utah to urge seniors to review their Medicare prescription plans by Dec. 31, Leavitt, a former Utah governor, said engaging consumers with timely, comprehensive information such as track records for doctors, institutions and nursing homes is part of the coming new age of health care in which individuals have more say and more responsibility in their health and health care.

"Over time, these kinds of tools that provide medical procedure and caregiver information sharing aided by technological advances will become available with the net effect of democratizing the process of health care itself over an individual's life span," Leavitt said.

The rating system was being both welcomed and criticized by nursing home administrators in Utah and other states as too generic to be very useful.

First-phase glitches are to be expected, Leavitt said, but the overall goal is achieved despite the flaws "if the ratings increase public awareness and a family's interest in making prudent long-term care decisions for their loved ones."