We are celebrating Five-Star’s 10th year birthday this December 2018. Over the last ten years, Five-Star has certainly matured considerably, and if you believe it measures quality, then you also must accept that nursing home quality has also improved. [We at PointRight believe that quality has improved but choose other ways to validate the industry’s improvement.]
We have plenty of Five-Star growing pains coming in 2019. At some point the “new survey data” is going to come out of the freezer. We took a peek, and it’s not pretty. Under the new survey process implemented November 2017, deficiencies and scope and severity have increased. How CMS chooses to bring these data into Five-Star will ultimately make (or break) many relationships – both consumer and other.
We’ve never seen a challenge Skilled Nursing couldn’t face. We will have our cake, and eat it, too.