Do Sponsorship, Staffing, and Reimbursement Matter?
This week, U.S. News and World Report and USA Today published their analyses of nursing homes based on data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 5-Star rating system.
While we have many criticisms of this system and have asked CMS to suspend it until they can improve the measures it uses, the system is out there and the media and consumers alike are using it.
When I look at the U.S. News list of those home consistently receiving 5 stars, most are from states with more generous Medicaid reimbursement rates and the vast majority are not-for-profits.
When I look at USA Today’s list of repeated 1-star homes, most are from states with poor reimbursement rates and are for-profits.
Coincidences?
What quality depends on
I’m nor a statistician or scientist, but any way you look at these articles, I conclude that quality depends on:
- Sponsorship.
- Staffing
- Adequate reimbursement!
Seems like no-brainers to me. How do you read the results?
Tell your policy makers… tell YOUR story!