COLUMBUS — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) Director Ursel J. McElroy today announced the launch of the Ohio Nursing Home Quality Navigator – a new online tool providing users detailed information about nursing homes across the state in one convenient digital location.
A recommendation of the Governor’s Nursing Home Quality & Accountability Task Force, the Navigator includes a searchable map of all active nursing homes in Ohio with care quality metrics, facility comparison functionality, and other features, such as staffing ratios, specialty services offered, and the number of health and safety violations a nursing home received. The tool is designed to empower Ohioans when considering a nursing home for themselves or a loved one.
“Our Task Force traveled to every corner of the state, listening to nursing home residents, their family members, friends, and caregivers. Time and again, these people told us that the information they needed to make one of the most important decisions of their lives – where to live and receive care – was scattered across a variety of sources,” DeWine said. “We heard loud and clear that Ohioans making these decisions want an accessible, trusted, single source of information about nursing homes available at their fingertips. Our new online Navigator will accomplish just that, providing an unprecedented level of transparency about the quality of Ohio’s nursing homes so people can make informed choices.”
“In creating our Task Force, Governor DeWine took a bold and timely step toward our goal of making excellence the expectation for residents of every Ohio nursing home,” said McElroy, who also served as chair of the Task Force. “It is our hope that, in addition to providing increased transparency and convenience to Ohioans, the new online Navigator will also incentivize nursing homes to continue reaching higher to deliver the very best quality of care and quality of life possible to the benefit of our state’s nursing home residents and those who love and care for them.”
The Ohio Nursing Home Quality Navigator is available through the Department of Aging’s website at https://aging.ohio.gov/navigator.
Developed by the InnovateOhio Platform at the direction of the Governor’s Office and ODA, and with further support from the Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Department of Medicaid, the Navigator offers both mobile and desktop/tablet versions to provide a seamless user-centered experience.
The Navigator allows Ohioans to find nursing homes in their area by searching for their zip code or city name. Entering one of these types of search terms will generate a map of that area and highlight the nursing homes within a range of anywhere from five to 100 miles. Ohioans can then see a list of those nursing homes and select one for further details about that facility.
Ohioans can also pull up information about a specific nursing home they may be interested in if they already know its name, skipping the search and map steps.
Data available for each facility includes its number of beds, its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Five-Star Quality Rating, resident and family satisfaction survey scores, staffing data, and other information provided by the facility, such as whether it allows pets, alcohol, or smoking, any religious affiliation, and what special care services it might offer.
The Navigator also provides each nursing home’s phone number and website and includes an instant share feature allowing users to text or email facility contact information to their loved ones with the click of a button.
The Navigator also allows for a direct comparison between nursing homes, with users being able to select up to two facilities (mobile version) or up to three facilities (desktop/tablet version) and compare their information side-by-side.
Further resources about nursing homes are also readily available from the Navigator’s main page.
The Ohio Nursing Home Quality Navigator resulted from the work of the Governor’s Nursing Home Quality & Accountability Task Force – a group of leading experts in aging, long-term care, and other disciplines, as well as long-term care consumers and advocates themselves, appointed by DeWine in February 2023 to study opportunities to improve nursing home care throughout the state.
Developing a public-facing dashboard with detailed data and information on nursing home quality was among the immediate action steps identified in the Task Force’s initial Recommendations Report, which was submitted to DeWine in May 2023.
The report laid the foundation for the Governor and General Assembly to pass a package of nursing home investments and policy reforms as part of the state operating budget – Amended Substitute House Bill 33.
The package was designed to improve quality of care and quality of life for nursing home residents through enhanced oversight, improved resources, increased transparency, resident empowerment, and more.
In the months ahead, the Task Force will continue its work to implement several key strategies outlined in the Recommendations Report, including increasing the reach of long-term care resident advocates, bolstering the state’s workforce of facility inspectors, and expanding technical assistance for nursing homes, among other strategies.
Further updates about the work of the Task Force will be made available at aging.ohio.gov/nhtaskforce.
