U.S. News & World Report Names Best Nursing Homes for 2017-18

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in health care rankings, today identified the Best Nursing Homes for 2017-18 and released its new Nursing Home Finder. To create these free and easy-to-use resources, U.S. News evaluated more than 15,000 homes nationwide, in every state and nearly 100 major metropolitan areas. This year, nearly 2,300 nursing homes earned the designation of a U.S. News Best Nursing Home.

"Finding a nursing home that meets an individual's specific needs is a difficult decision that several million families across America face each year," says Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News. "The Best Nursing Homes ratings, advice and tools were designed to help navigate this important life decision and make the process a little easier."

The U.S. News Nursing Home Finder offers comprehensive information about care, safety, health inspections, staffing and more for nearly every nursing home in the country. With this tool, individuals can easily conduct a customized search for a highly rated nursing home by location, distance, Medicare and Medicaid coverage and size.

Alongside the Nursing Home Finder, rich editorial content provides helpful tips and guidance including articles on Senior Housing Options, 4 Signs You Need to Seek Long-Term Care for Your Aging Parent, Care Options When on a Limited Budget and Why Ongoing Vigilance Is a Must When a Parent Lives in Memory Care.

Since its inception in 2009, the U.S. News nursing home ratings have relied on data from Nursing Home Compare, a program run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that sets and enforces standards for nursing homes. This year, in order to provide an evaluation standard for consumers consistent with its other health ratings, U.S. News has created a 5-level rating scale for nursing homes, ranging from "Top Performing" to "Poor." For more information about the updated methodology, please see below or click here.

The nearly 2,300 nursing homes that earned the designation of a U.S. News & World Report Best Nursing Home for 2017-18 represent about 15% percent of all homes. For the second year in a row, California has the highest number of homes on the list, followed by Ohio and Florida. Washington, D.C., Hawaii and Arkansas have the highest proportion of Best Nursing Homes as compared to the total number of homes evaluated.

"Selecting the right nursing home that offers exceptional care for a loved one can be particularly challenging," says Ben Harder, Managing Editor and Chief of Health Analysis. "For the Best Nursing Homes, U.S. News analyzed objective data to arm consumers with the information and confidence they need to help them choose a home capable of providing the quality care seniors deserve."

For the full list, visit the Nursing Home Finder and use #BestNursingHomes on Facebook and Twitter.

About Best Nursing Homes Updated Methodology
U.S. News has updated the methodology used to evaluate nursing homes to ensure that the designation of Best Nursing Home is given only to those homes that demonstrate appropriate use of key services and consistent performance in quality measures. To qualify as a Best Nursing Home, facilities had to earn an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 during 10 months of federal reports ending in August 2017 and consistently meet performance standards set by U.S. News such as earning at least a 4 in the CMS overall rating for all 10 months. Read more details on our updated methodology here.

About U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is a digital news and information company that empowers people to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives. Focusing on Education, Health, Personal Finance, Travel, Cars and News & Opinion, usnews.com provides consumer advice, rankings, news and analysis to serve people making complex decisions throughout all stages of life. More than 30 million people visit usnews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE U.S. News & World Report

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