The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is facing pressure to publicize nursing home COVID-19 vaccination data in a more consumer-friendly manner.
Several long-term care consumer advocate groups have called on the agency to post vaccination rates for individual nursing homes on its Care Compare website as opposed to within spreadsheets on the COVID-19 Nursing Home Data website, according to a report by the Associated Press.
“Care Compare is the website for the public, and the information has to be there,” Toby Edelman, with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, told the news agency. “If they want it to be somewhere else, they have to let people know. It makes no sense to me.”
Nursing home providers have been required to submit their COVID-19 vaccination data to the federal government since May following the announcement of an interim rule. The regulation also mandated that CMS post facility-specific vaccination rates among residents and staff so that the information can be seen openly by the public.
Some consumer groups have complained to CMS that its nursing home data site is geared to researchers and not consumers, and it requires the public to navigate large maps and spreadsheets to find information about a select facility.
“This data needs to be readily accessible to folks, not just dropped in a big file on their website,” said Sam Brooks, program and policy manager for Consumer Voice. “It’s just ridiculous that people should have to work this hard.”
CMS pledged to improve the data website and listen to recommendations but did not commit to putting nursing home vaccination rates on the Care Compare site, according to the AP report.
“We are focused on making this data more consumer-friendly and easy to navigate,” the agency said.
