QUALITY MEASURES ROLLOUT

VHCA

At a national press conference on Tuesday, November 12, 2002, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) launched the Nursing Home Quality Initiatives public reporting of ten quality measures on their Nursing Home Compare website.  This was followed in Richmond with a press conference at the capitol where Steve Morrisette, VHCA President, spoke.  Newspaper ads appeared across the country on November 13th highlighting the availability of the measures at http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/home.asp or by calling 1.800.MEDICARE.  The measures are one of many tools to assist consumers when making decisions on selecting a nursing facility.

Quality Measure information on Virginias nursing facilities appeared in ads in the Virginian Pilot and Washington Post, which listed the largest facilities in their geographic areas and each facilitys data on (1) the percentage of residents with pressure sores (without risk adjustment), (2) the percentage of residents with loss of ability in basic daily tasks, and (3) the percentage of long term stay residents with pain.  Virginia facilities percentages are generally comparable to the national averages for these measures.