AHCA Supports Five-Star Changes, But Says CMS Should Add Customer Satisfaction Data
Responding to the news about the coming changes to Nursing Home Compare (NHC), AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson commented, “We support transparency so that potential residents and their families can make an informed decision on care. We appreciate CMS’ efforts to improve Nursing Home Compare, but as we have previously suggested, we believe that CMS should create a standard and rational definition of both abuse and neglect and then report them separately. That would help provide consumers with the information that they need.” Parkinson also called for the addition of customer satisfaction to NHC.
AHCA has provided details on the categories and F-Tags that will result in an icon after October 23, 2019.
A nursing center will receive an alert icon on NHC if it falls under one of two categories:
- If a nursing center has been cited for abuse that led to harm (G or above) in the last year for one of three abuse F-tags; or
- If a nursing center has been cited for abuse with the potential for harm (D and above) in each of the last two years.
The three abuse and neglect citations that will result in an icon are as follows:
- F600: Free from abuse and neglect
- F602: Free from misappropriation/exploitation
- F603: Free from involuntary seclusion
After a nursing center has been free from any of these three citations (at any level) for a full year or inspection cycle, the icon will be removed. The NHC website will be updated with new information on a monthly basis.
AHCA is working on a report for members with information on their likelihood of having an icon displayed, as well as talking points for the media and consumers, and guidance on communicating with residents, their families and prospective referral sources.
In the meantime, members can access new resources on ahcancalED to support long term and post-acute facilities in preventing and addressing reported incidents of resident-to-resident mistreatment.
If you have any questions, please contact the AHCA Regulatory team at regulatory@ahca.org.
