Behind CMS’s freeze of all Nursing Home Care Compare data

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Friday it is freezing its chief nursing home information source for consumers to ensure data accuracy after behind-the-scenes technical changes.

The broad freeze of all information on Nursing Home Care Compare, including star ratings, is expected to last through September. CMS said new data will be added again with the October refresh, expected Oct. 29.

The move comes weeks after CMS finished migrating its nursing home survey and certification data infrastructure from the decades-old Quality Improvement and Evaluation System to the cloud-based Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System, or iQIES. 

“This temporary pause allows CMS to validate data integrity and verify that publicly reported information meets CMS quality standards before resuming updates,” CMS wrote in a Quality and Safety Special Alert sent to nursing home providers Friday.

“To ensure seamless integration and maintain the highest standards of data accuracy, CMS will temporarily pause monthly updates to the Nursing Home Care Compare Five Star Rating System, as of July 30, 2025, continuing through September,” the agency added.

CMS did refresh data in July, making a significant change in the way it calculates health inspection ratings by removing often-outdated, third-cycle survey scores from ratings. 

It’s not the first time the agency has frozen data in recent years. Most notably, CMS froze some updates early in the Trump administration, and that followed a months-long freeze of four quality measures to allow for data resets.

But the breadth of the freeze came as a surprise to some.

“This is unprecedented,” said Broad River Rehab’s Joel VanEaton, a close observer of CMS regulatory changes. “While CMS has frozen other aspects of the 5-star rating system … I don’t remember this ever happening to health inspection data individually before.”

The freeze may not be impactful for all providers if it lasts only until October, as indicated. VanEaton noted that fewer data points are affected during monthly updates, which are the kinds that were expected in August and September.

Events that could normally impact health inspection ratings between quarters are a new inspection; new complaint deficiencies; new focused infection control survey deficiencies; a second, third or fourth revisit; a resolution of Informal Dispute Resolutions or Independent Informal Dispute Resolutions resulting in changes to the scope and/or severity of deficiencies; the “aging” out of complaint and focused infection control survey deficiencies.

Likewise, if a nursing home newly qualifies for the abuse icon, the health inspection rating is capped at 2 stars, and this may cause a change in the overall rating between quarters, VanEaton said, referencing the Five-Star Technical User’s Guide updated last month.

As of Friday, there appeared to be no explanation on the site that information had been frozen. 

If, however, consumers want to access updated health inspection information, CMS pointed out three methods still available: Reviewing a nursing home’s latest survey findings, which must be posted in all facilities; using the Freedom of Information Act to request inspection documents and related compliance materials; or contacting their state survey agency for information.