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CMS Announces Integration of Compare Sites

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the eight “compare” websites currently operating will be integrated into one streamlined user interface in spring 2020. The move is part of the its efforts to increase transparency and will create a one-stop-shop for Medicare beneficiaries exploring their provider options.  

Currently, CMS operates separate compare sites for eight different types of Medicare providers: hospitals, home health, nursing homes, hospices, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term care hospitals, doctors and other professionals, and dialysis facilities.

The eight compare sites vary in their look and what information is available, making navigation challenging for beneficiaries and stakeholders. While some compare sites provide data from customer and patient satisfaction surveys, the information is conspicuously missing from other compare sites. Similarly, some compare sites include information about licensure or certification inspections, while others lack this information.

The new compare website, which will be known as Medicare Care Compare, will allow beneficiaries to access information and compare providers from a single site with a unified, consistent look and feel across providers and care settings.

Medicare Care Compare will not change how quality and other information is collected or measured. For example, the nursing home portion of Medicare Care Compare will continue to display data on nursing home health inspections, staffing, and quality measures, and will maintain existing icons denoting Special Focus Facilities and facilities that have received specific abuse deficiencies. CMS also notes that the website housing the data used in compare sites, currently data.medicare.gov, will also be updated.

CMS is currently working with stakeholders for feedback on the new site. LeadingAge has participated in and confirmed future attendance to several stakeholder preview and feedback forums. Public preview and feedback will begin in spring 2020 when the site becomes available for public use. Existing compare websites will continue to operate concurrently until fall 2020 when the eight existing compare sites are retired and Medicare Care Compare assumes the role of primary integrated compare site.

Watch Advantage for more details on how you can provide input on the preview and feedback forums

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