CMS Announces Changes for SNFs on Care Compare Website

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), Center for Clinical Standards and Quality recently announced upcoming changes to skilled nursing facility (“SNF”) profiles on the Medicare Care Compare website.¹ Care Compare is an online platform hosted by CMS that enables consumers to compare Medicare-certified providers based on performance and quality-related metrics. Significant changes to information that will be publicly available on SNF Care Compare profiles will take effect beginning in July 2025.

Key Updates for SNFs

• Aggregated data on SNF “chains” will be available on Care Compare. In 2022, CMS began using cms.gov to publicly disclose Medicare-certified SNF “chains,” which CMS defines as groupings of SNFs that share “at least one individual or organizational owner, officer, or entity with operational/managerial control.” ² CMS sources this information from mandatory ownership disclosures that Medicare providers make on the Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System (“PECOS”). In 2023, CMS began publishing aggregated performance-related information (including health inspection, staffing, and quality ratings) for SNF “chains” on data.cms.gov. At that time, the intended audience was nursing home stakeholders and researchers. Beginning July 30, 2025, however, CMS will publish the data directly on Care Compare and present this information in a more consumer-friendly manner.
• Third cycle Standard Surveys will be removed from the Care Compare inspection rating. Care Compare uses a five-star rating system for SNFs, which is calculated based on health inspection, staffing, and quality metrics. Currently, CMS’s health inspection metrics rely on data from a SNF’s three most recent State Survey inspection cycles. Historically, this timeframe spanned 45 months or less (with each cycle lasting no more than 15 months). Due to inspection delays from the COVID-19 pandemic, however, more than 45 months have passed since the third-most-recent inspection cycle occurred for many providers. Beginning in July 2025, CMS will use only the two most recent inspection cycles in its ratings calculations.
• New data sources will be used to calculate the percentage of long-stay residents using antipsychotic medications. CMS publishes the percentage of long-stay SNF residents receiving antipsychotics and includes this information in the five-star rating system on Care Compare. Notably, a 2021 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) concluded that existing data sources did not accurately reflect the actual frequency and duration of antipsychotic medication use in SNFs.³ In response to this finding, CMS announced it will use Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid claims data as additional sources to track the use of antipsychotics in this care setting. The change takes effect on October 29, 2025.
• COVID-19 vaccination information will be removed. Since 2021, CMS has published the percentage of residents in each SNF who received a COVID-19 vaccination. By July 30, 2025, COVID-19 this information will be removed from all SNF profiles on Care Compare.

Takeaways

The upcoming changes underscore CMS’s continued interest in providing accurate and transparent information about Medicare-certified SNFs to consumers. Stakeholders should be aware that ownership disclosures on PECOS may become readily available to the public on Care Compare. Additionally, stakeholders with ownership interests in multiple SNFs should consider the impact a facility’s quality and performance metrics will have on CMS’s aggregated ratings for the SNF “chain,” particularly when considering an acquisition or engaging a third-party management company.

For additional information, please contact AGG Change of Ownership (“CHOW”) team attorneys Hedy Rubinger or Cody Davis.

The Arnall Golden Gregory CHOW team leads all regulatory aspects of healthcare transactions for investors, operators, managers, capital partners, and developers of every size in all 50 states. The team streamlines the regulatory process so that clients close their transactions on or ahead of schedule. Whether obtaining licensure and Medicare/Medicaid approvals, structuring transactions to expedite closings, anticipating issues to minimize cash flow disruption, negotiating regulatory terms in deal documents, creatively resolving diligence issues, or advising on CHOW guidelines and compliance, the team provides extensive experience and practical solutions. To date, the CHOW team has served as primary regulatory counsel in transactions valued at more than $35 billion.

[1] “Memorandum to State Survey Agency Directors.” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality. Ref: QSO-25-20-NH. June 18, 2025. https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-25-20-nh.pdf

[2] “Memorandum to State Survey Agency Directors.” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality. Ref: QSO-23-18-NH. June 28, 2023. Posting of Nursing Home Ownership/Operatorship Affiliation Data on Nursing Home Care Compare Website and data.cms.gov.

[3] “CMS Could Improve the Data It Uses to Monitor Antipsychotic Drugs in Nursing Homes.” U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. May 2021. OEI-07-19-00490. CMS Could Improve the Data It Uses to Monitor Antipsychotic Drugs in Nursing Homes, OEI-07-19-00490.

Authors:

Hedy Rubinger 
Email: hedy.rubinger@agg.com

Cody Davis 
Email: cody.davis@agg.com