Data Sources - CMS Nursing Home Data

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

All data on NursingHomeNews.org comes from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that oversees nursing home quality and safety. CMS conducts regular inspections of all Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing homes and makes this data publicly available.

Primary Data Source

CMS Provider Data Catalog

Updated monthly at: data.cms.gov

Contains comprehensive datasets on nursing home inspections, violations, penalties, and quality measures.

Specific Datasets We Use

Health Deficiencies Dataset

File: NH_HealthCitations_YYYYMM.csv

Contains all health inspection violations including:

Standard health inspections (annually)
Complaint investigations
Infection control inspections
Focused inspections

Current Coverage: 7,438,344 violations from 2014-2025

Penalties Dataset

File: NH_Penalties_YYYYMM.csv

Contains financial penalties imposed including:

Civil money penalties (per day and per instance)
Payment denials for new admissions
Payment denials for all residents
State-imposed penalties

Total Penalties Tracked: $55,982,326 in 2025 alone

Provider Information Dataset

File: NH_ProviderInfo_YYYYMM.csv

Contains facility characteristics including:

Ownership information
Bed count and occupancy
Overall and component star ratings
Staffing levels
Quality measure scores

Facilities Tracked: 15,543 nationwide

Data Processing

We download these datasets monthly and process them through our automated systems to:

Standardize data formats and field names
Link violations and penalties to specific facilities
Calculate summary statistics and trends
Generate facility safety scores based on violation severity
Create searchable indexes for quick data retrieval

Additional Resources

Medicare Care Compare

The official CMS tool for comparing nursing homes: medicare.gov/care-compare

Provides additional information including resident and family surveys.

State Survey Agencies

Each state has a survey agency responsible for conducting nursing home inspections on behalf of CMS. State agencies may provide additional information and complaint investigation services.

CMS Quality Reporting Programs

Learn more about how CMS measures and reports nursing home quality: cms.gov/medicare/quality

Data Freshness

CMS typically releases updated data files by the 15th of each month, reflecting inspections and penalties processed through the end of the previous month. We update our database within 48 hours of new CMS data releases.

Data Currency Note

There is typically a 30-60 day lag between when an inspection occurs and when it appears in CMS data. Very recent inspections or penalties may not yet be reflected in our database. For the most current information about a specific facility, contact your state survey agency or the facility directly.