CMS Triples Access to Skilled Nursing Survey and Complaint Data

Patients and their families and caregivers will now be able to access a more in-depth comparison when looking for nursing homes.

Starting in April, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will expand the time period for which statements of deficiency (CMS-2567) reports are published.

Statements of Deficiencies (CMS-2567) include complaint survey information on individual skilled nursing facilities and can provide transparency and sway decisions for those looking for a nursing home. 

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Improvements to CMS’s Nursing Home Compare website will soon include expanding from the current single survey cycle to a period encompassing three-years worth of complaint and standard health survey data, the agency announced. 

Additionally, to improve the public’s ability to interpret CMS-2567 findings, CMS plans to add indicators for the scope and severity of each deficiency cited on the forms. 

Currently, the CMS national database does not include facility Plans of Correction, but they ca be requested from either the facility or the State Survey Agency. 

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Also, section 1902 of the Social Security Act require each state to maintain a consumer-oriented website providing useful information to consumers, including the nursing home deficiency reports and the facility Plans of Correction.

In July 2012, CMS received praise from around the healthcare industry when it first released its deficiency data to the public.

Written by Jason Oliva