Best Nursing Homes Ranking for 2011 Released by U.S. News Media Group
15,000 facilities nationwide are included online to help senior citizens, caregivers find
quality care
Feb.
9, 2011 A new national ranking of over 15,000 U.S. nursing homes has
been released online by U.S. Media Group, publisher of U.S. News &
World Report. The Best Nursing Homes ranking evaluates facilities
across the nation. The publisher touts the list as a worthwhile tool
for millions of elderly Americans and their families in search of a
nursing home.
U.S. News Best
Nursing Homes profiles the 15,000 facilities and ranks them by state,
using data and quality ratings from the federal government. It showcases
an Honor Roll of 18 homes that received perfect five-star ratings for
four consecutive quarters in all three categories in which homes are
judged.
"The Best Nursing
Homes rankings and search tools were designed to help families deal with
the pressure and confusion of picking a home at a difficult time," says
Avery Comarow, Health Rankings Editor.
"We want them to
be able to choose homes according to their own individual needs
--closeness to family members, religious affiliation, and insurance
coverage are just a few of the factors they can select."
In an online
article Best Nursing Homes: Behind the Ranks Comarow writes that
more than 3.2 million Americans will spend at least part of 2011 in one
of the nation's 16,000-plus
nursing homes.
He says, too,
The U.S. News rankings rely on data from
Nursing Home Compare, a consumer web site run by the federal Centers
for
Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS sets and enforces standards for
all nursing homes enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid. (For government
purposes, a nursing home is a Medicare or Medicaid facility that
provides 24-hour nursing care and other medical services. We don't rank
retirement and assisted-living communities, which aren't part of
Medicare or Medicaid and don't offer such services.)
Best Nursing Homes, says Comarow, addresses some of the issues with
trying to do comparisons on the Medicare site.
U.S. News offers
search features that make it easy to identify nursing homes within a
geographical location with a specific star rating or type of insurance
coverage. At
www.usnews.com/nursinghomes, visitors can plug in partial names or
other bits of information and a list of homes will be generated.
The online
rankings, updated quarterly, rely on information from the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that sets and
enforces quality standards for all homes enrolled in Medicare or
Medicaid. Homes receive an overall rating of one to five stars from the
government based on the number of stars earned in three other
categories: health inspections, nurse staffing, and quality of care.
The U.S. News
Media Group is a multi-platform, digital publisher of news and analysis,
which includes the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine,
www.usnews.com, and
www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Money, Education,
and Public Service/Opinion, the U.S. News Media Group has earned a
reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that
improves the quality of life of its readers. The U.S. News Media Group's
signature franchise includes its News You Can Useฎ brand of journalism
and its "Best" series of consumer guides that include rankings of
colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, mutual funds, health plans, and
more.
