IRON MOUNTAIN – The Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center announced its nursing home received 5-stars as part of its annual performance rating.

The Iron Mountain-based VAMC’s announcement comes after VA extended its unprecedented 18-month record of transparency disclosures by making public for the first time its annual nursing home ratings for every facility in the country. View the ratings here.

The data shows that, overall, VA’s nursing home system – composed of more than 130 community living centers – compares closely with private sector nursing homes, even though the department on average cares for sicker patients in its nursing homes than do private facilities.

In fact, the overall star rating for VA’s nursing homes compared to the 15,487 private sector nursing homes rated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) shows that VA has a significantly lower percentage (34.1 percent lower) of one-star, or lowest rated, facilities than the rest of the nation.

Of note, 60 of VA’s nursing homes improved their quality score from last year to this year (2nd Quarter FY17 to 2nd Quarter FY18). Only one facility had a meaningful decline in that metric, and that facility was already rated with four stars.

Extending VA’s Commitment to VA Transparency, Quality Improvement

VA has become the first hospital system in the nation to post its:

– Hospital wait times

– Opioid prescription rates

– Employee settlements and accountability actions

– Chief executive travel

“The 5-star rating our nursing home received is a testament to the dedication of our employees to serving our nation’s heroes,” said Jim Rice, Medical Center Director.