OK offers nursing home ratings

The state of Oklahoma has launched a website rating nursing homes on 10 quality factors. Ratings include factors such as nursing turnover and retention, the home's compliance with state surveys, nursing staff per patient day, Medicare utilization and resident/family satisfaction. Consumers who are familiar with a given home can provide rankings ranging from one to five stars. 

In an unusual twist, meanwhile, the higher the home scores on the consumer survey, the greater their incentive payment through Medicaid, ranging from 1 to 5 percent per patient. If nothing else, this certainly is a different approach than CMS's "shame them till they change" effort in which it publishes the names of the worst-quality homes it finds.

To learn more about the state program:
- read this article [1] in The Oklahoman

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