Choosing a nursing home for yourself or a loved one is a very important decision. The Department of Health publishes the below information to help you compare different nursing homes and choose among them. You should also consider visiting nursing homes, looking around, and asking questions of staff and residents.

Clinical Measures

HEALTH releases a clinical measure report for Medicare-certified nursing homes every 3 months. The measures reflect residents’ outcomes for clinical conditions like pain, and were chosen by Medicare for the Nursing Home Quality Initiative. Detailed information about the measures’ data source and how the diamonds are calculated is available in the Technical Page.

Medicare's Nursing Home Compare website also has information about the care that residents receive in Rhode Island nursing homes.

Resident and Family Satisfaction

Each year, nursing homes ask their residents and residents’ families to provide feedback about their satisfaction with nursing home care. The Nursing Home Satisfaction Report was updated in December 2009.

The Supplemental Information provides details about how the information was collected and helps you understand how to read the report.

Inspection Results

HEALTH inspects Medicare-certified nursing homes every 9-15 months to make sure they comply with Federal standards. Inspection results are published by the Division of Facilities Regulations and are another source of information to help you evaluate the quality of care provided by Rhode Island nursing homes.