Measurement devices

Nevada's nursing homes don't like the rating system that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid rolled out in the middle of last month.

Instead, the Nevada Health Care Association the industry group for about 50 nursing homes in the state is trying get nursing home operators to sign up for a Web-based rating system that's based on the confidential input of residents and their families as well as employees of nursing homes.

"We're pushing on it as hard as we can," says Charles Perry, executive director of the association. About two-thirds of the facilities represented by the association have signed on.

The five-star rating system unveiled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid last month allows consumers to compare nursing homes within a state. The comparisons are based on data collected by federal agencies about staffing, quality of care and other standards.

Eleven facilities in northwest Nevada six in Washoe County, three in Carson City, one in Douglas County and one in Lyon County are rated by the federal survey. Seven of them receive two stars or one star in a system where top nursing homes receive five stars.

But the Nevada Health Care Association complains that the information used on the federal Web site is old as much as two years old in some instances and doesn't necessarily measure questions that are important to residents and their families.

For instance, says Bob Davis, director of Hearthstone of Northern Nevada in Sparks, the federal statistics measure how many falls by patients are reported by a nursing home but don't differentiate between 10 falls by a single patient or single falling incidents involving 10 different patients.

The health care association's initiative, My InnerView, provides much-fresher data based on recent surveys with residents, their families and nursing home staffs. The Web survey tool developed by My InnerView Inc. of Wausau, Wis., measures quality of life, quality of care and quality of service.

While federal reporting focuses primarily on problems in nursing homes, Perry says the Web-based effort strives to provide a balanced report on nursing home care.

"Oftentimes nursing homes have a negative stigma," he says. "However, statistics show in reality very few long-term care patients are actually displeased with their care."

Equally important, says Davis, My InnerView can be used as a tool by nursing home managements to improve their staff's performance in something close to real time.

And Perry says the My InnerView surveys will provide more data to the industry as it deals with regulators and consumer groups.

"It's time for us to stop saying, 'Poor us,'" he says. "This gives us more credibility."

Nursing homes pay the cost of My InnerView, which runs about $1,500 annually during the start-up phase. Some operators of multiple nursing homes, Perry says, have been slow to sign on because of concerns about the cost.