Updated Five-Star Users Guide

• By: Maureen Carland
• On: 07/17/2025 08:43:12
• In: Quality/Regulatory

Effective with the July 2025 refresh, CMS is updating the methodology for calculating the Health Inspections domain. Instead of using the three most recent standard health inspection surveys, CMS will now use the two most recent surveys to determine health inspection ratings. However, CMS will continue to apply a three-year lookback period for complaint and infection control inspections.

In addition, CMS is updating the risk-adjustment models for the four claims-based quality measures by incorporating new risk adjustors based on Section GG (resident functional ability) from the Minimum Data Set (MDS). To limit disruption from this change, CMS is also adjusting the scoring thresholds for these measures to maintain the same point distribution, based on data from the April 2025 refresh.

For more information on these changes, please refer to the  Five-Star Users' Guide 2025 - Updated July 2025 (PDF)  Changes are marked in red, italicized text.
 
Staff Contact: mcarland@mehca.org