CMS Announces Two New Tools for Consumers

Hospital Compare and Nursing Home Compare have recently been enhanced for consumers by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  They are two websites that are useful in helping Americans make informed choices about hospitals and nursing homes, and now they have been redesigned to make navigation easier and to incorporate new comparison tools like findings from nursing home inspections.

Acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner says, "Both sites contain important data on how well these facilities perform on quality measures – such as the frequency of infections that develop in the hospital, how often patients have to be readmitted to the hospital, and the percentage of nursing residents who report having moderate to severe pain while staying in the nursing homes. Researchers will now be able to access the data on both of these sites through mobile ready applications.”

Updates to Nursing Home Compare include:

•          Narratives that detail specific findings from inspections of nursing home facilities

•          Two new measures that report a nursing home’s use of antipsychotic medications

•          Updated data for quality measures previously available on the site

Updates to Hospital Compare include:

•          Two new measures that cover potential health risks of imaging services

•          Updated data for existing quality measures

These available websites are extremely popular with patients, families, and caregivers because peace of mind comes with making the best informed decisions one can.  In addition, open and available information to the public on hospitals and nursing homes helps to further motivate providers to constantly improve.

Have you utilized these valuable websites?