About Our Data
Transparent methodology. No pay-to-rank. No conflicts of interest.
All facility ratings, inspection results, staffing data, and penalty information on BetterCareSearch comes directly from the CMS Provider Data Catalog — the same dataset used by Medicare.gov. CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) is the federal agency that certifies and inspects nursing homes across the United States.
CMS assigns each nursing home a 1-to-5 star rating across four dimensions:
- Overall Rating
- A composite of the three ratings below
- Health Inspections
- Based on state survey results over 3 years
- Staffing
- Nurse-to-resident ratios vs expected levels
- Quality Measures
- Falls, infections, and hospitalizations
- No pay-to-rank
- We never accept payment to influence ratings
- Public data
- All data is publicly available from CMS
- Open methodology
- Fully documented on this page
- Monthly updates
- Refreshed when CMS publishes new data
We track each facility's overall rating over time. If the rating has gone up since we began tracking, we mark it as "Improving." If it has dropped, we mark it "Declining." Otherwise it shows as "Stable." Trends require at least two months of data.
Important Disclaimer: BetterCareSearch is not affiliated with CMS, Medicare, or the U.S. government. This site is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always visit facilities in person and consult with healthcare professionals when making care decisions.