On February 25, the Government Will Make It Harder to Check If a Nursing Home Is Safe.
On February 25, the Government Will Make It Harder to Check If a Nursing Home Is Safe.
CMS is removing the number of complaint allegations and facility-reported incidents from Nursing Home Care Compare, the government’s primary tool for families evaluating nursing home safety. The agency says the removal is temporary. No timeline has been announced for when the data will return.
What Is Care Compare?
Care Compare is the public-facing website run by CMS where families look up nursing homes. It displays star ratings, inspection results, staffing levels, and complaint data. Before July 2025, the site showed the number of substantiated complaints, meaning only investigated and confirmed complaints appeared.
What Went Wrong
When CMS transitioned to its new iQIES data system in July 2025, the “substantiated” filter was removed. All allegations and facility-reported incidents from the past three years appeared on Care Compare, whether investigated or not. Rather than fix the filter, CMS decided to remove the complaint data entirely.
What This Means for Families
The complaint count was one of the only ways families could spot patterns. A facility with 2 complaints looks different than one with 47. That number told you something. Without it, families rely on star ratings, which went static for three months during the iQIES transition and have their own accuracy problems.
Fewer inspections. Fewer after-hours visits. Less complaint data. The picture families see on Care Compare is getting smaller while the problems in facilities are getting bigger.
ProPublica Nursing Home Inspect: projects.propublica.org/nursing-homes
NursingHome411: nursinghome411.org
Eldercare Locator: 1-800-677-1116
File a complaint: Medicare.gov
Sources:
McKnight’s: CMS to Remove Complaint Allegations from Nursing Home Compare (Jan 11, 2026)
CMS Compliance Group: iQIES Transition Data Shake-Up (Jan 9, 2026)
AHCA: CMS Memo on Data Discrepancies and Care Compare Updates
McKnight’s: CMS Reduces Survey Expectations (Jan 2026)
Skilled Nursing News: CMS Pauses Care Compare Updates (Aug 2025)
Stay informed. New investigations published daily.
Nursing home abuse, neglect, and accountability from across the country.
Read All Investigations →
Leave a Reply