CMS Pushes Nursing Home Care Compare Quality Icon Back One Week to October 8

CMS issued a revised version of its nursing home risk-based survey guidance on September 29, 2026, moving the planned Care Compare High Performing Facility icon launch from September 30 to October 8. The original memo, published in July, had set today as the date when a trophy icon would first appear on Medicare.gov's Care Compare nursing home search tool to identify qualifying high-performing facilities.

To earn the icon, a nursing home must meet a set of quarterly criteria: a five-star overall rating on Care Compare, accurate data submission to CMS, zero citations indicating harm or substandard quality of care in the most recent survey cycle, and no recent ownership changes. CMS estimated that about 12 percent of all nursing facilities will qualify when the program begins.

The icon is part of a broader shift in how CMS approaches nursing home oversight. Under the new risk-based survey system, which began rolling out nationally in September, state inspection agencies direct more frequent surveys to lower-performing facilities and reduce survey frequency for those that consistently meet the high-performance threshold.

For families searching Medicare.gov to compare nursing home options, the practical effect of the one-week postponement is limited. Existing star ratings, staffing data, health inspection results, and quality measures remain accessible on Care Compare throughout. The new icon simply makes the high-performing designation visible at a glance, and that feature is now expected to appear on October 8.