About Nursing Home State Inspections

All Nursing Homes must be licensed by the state in which they operate. In order for homes to participate in the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs they must be certified. This requires them to comply with rigid standards enforced by regular facility inspections and extensive evaluations.

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• Inspections are unannounced
• Inspections are conducted by official state inspectors
• Inspectors are health care professionals such as RNs and licensed social workers
• A copy of each inspection report is sent to the nursing home after it is completed
• If standards are not met, the nursing home must submit a plan of correction to the state
• In some cases, a follow-up survey is made to verify deficiencies were corrected

Each state inspects Medicare/Medicaid certified nursing homes every 9-18 months to assess compliance with federal standards of care such as adequacy of staffing, quality of care and cleanliness of facilities. The results of these inspections are technical in nature, therefore they are sometimes difficult for consumers to interpret.

In an effort to make inspection results more available and understandable, we have designed an efficient tool for locating homes and evaluating their performance called "Nursing Home Inspector^TM".

Learn About Our Nursing Home Inspector^TM Tool