Thomas Hamilton, Director, Survey and Certification Group, CMS, gave a presentation at the Advancing Excellence Steering Committee Meeting at AAHSA on the proposed Nursing Home Compare 5-star rating system for nursing facilities.

Highlights of the presentation include:

• He stated that CMS has continued to work on the format and the most recent version [see the slide with the revised screen] is in Thomas' words more "quasi-interactive." Under this scenario, users would be able to view the overall ranking, sort by any of the three data sources, i.e., survey, QMs, and staffing, and then drill down for the specific information leading to the rating.
• He also stated that while CMS did "harvest" all of the comments received by 7/23, the mailbox - [BetterCare@cms.hhs.gov] is still open and they are still monitoring it for input.

Click here to view the PowerPoint Presentation.