Perspective               

Medicare.gov Nursing Home Information Not Accurate

The Nursing Home Compare database on the government's Medicare web site, that is supposed to provide information to help people with Medicare choose a nursing home, leaves out critical information about the quality record of many nursing homes. This is according to a report prepared by the House Committee on Government Reform at the request of Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Charles Grassley.

The Committee found that more than 25,000 violations of federal health standards that occurred between October 2000 and December 2001 are not included in the database. Fifty-nine percent of the "most serious violations-those involving death or serious injury-"and 41 percent of those that "cause[d] actual harm to [nursing home] residents" are excluded from the database.

Representative Waxman and Senator Grassley are concerned that the inaccuracy of the database is misleading consumers since many nursing homes "that appear to have clean records on [the database] actually had serious problems."

A complete inspection report for individual nursing homes is available from the survey agency in every state. The phone number for the state survey agency in your area can be found in the Helpful Contacts section of Medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

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