Federal regulators say that nursing homes could eventually come to see patient satisfaction scores included in Five Star Quality Ratings and on the Nursing Home Compare website.
But adoption could be a long way off, given cost and other logistical hurdles, such as how to gauge feedback from individuals with dementia, both regulators and providers agree. A data-gathering process previously explored proved too expensive to sustain.
A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services spokeswoman acknowledged the agency’s interest in satisfaction scores in an email to McKnight’s.
Long-term care lobbyists point out that many other healthcare sectors already post consumers’ satisfaction scores on sites comparable to Nursing Home Compare, a web tool that provides information on how well nursing homes provide care.
“Several factors would affect implementation of satisfaction scores, including funding, the data collection process, and regulatory construct,” the CMS representative explained. “These factors pose substantial challenges and may take some time to resolve.”
Two years ago, CMS put resident satisfaction rulemaking on a National Quality Forum wish list, but there’s been no movement since.
