Nursing Home Star Ratings on Care Compare Were Recalculated in July 2026 With Tougher Benchmarks

CMS updated its Nursing Home Five-Star Quality Rating System in July 2026, raising the benchmarks nursing homes must meet to earn higher quality measure ratings. With this quarterly refresh, CMS increased each quality measure rating threshold by one half of the average improvement in quality measure scores observed across nursing homes from January 2025 through April 2026.

The five-star system rates each nursing home across three components: health inspection results, staffing levels, and quality measures. Each component receives its own one-to-five star score, and those feed into the overall rating visible on Care Compare at medicare.gov.

Because CMS periodically raises thresholds as national nursing home performance improves, a facility that maintained the same standard of care as the prior year could see a lower quality measure score if it did not outpace the broader industry trend. Conversely, facilities that improved faster than average may see their scores rise.

For Medicare beneficiaries, including those in Medicare Advantage plans, who are comparing nursing facilities for a planned or emergency stay, checking each component score on Care Compare offers more detail than the overall star count alone. The July 2026 rating update coincides with a separate CMS initiative, announced the same week, to implement risk-based survey scheduling for inspections.