About 3 million elderly and disabled Americans received care
in our nation's nearly 17,000 Medicare and Medicaid-certified
nursing homes in 2001. Slightly more than half of these were long-term
nursing home residents, but nearly as many had shorter stays for
rehabilitation care after an acute hospitalization. About 75 percent
were age 75 or older.
In November 2002, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced the Nursing
Home Quality Initiative to continue to improve quality of
care in nursing homes. Working with measurement experts, the National
Quality Forum and a diverse group of nursing home industry stakeholders,
CMS adopted a set of improved nursing home quality measures.
The national Nursing Home Quality Initiative continues to be
a broad-based initiative that includes CMS’s continuing
regulatory and enforcement systems, new and improved consumer
information at 1-800-MEDICARE and
www.medicare.gov, community-based
nursing home quality improvement programs, and partnerships and
collaborative efforts to promote awareness and support.
