CMS also reports 95,515 confirmed coronavirus cases among nursing home residents in the U.S.
The data was publicly released June 4. Along withthe stats on coronavirus cases, CMS also unveiled an interactive map that lets users search any nursing home in the U.S. to see the total confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Earlier that day, CMS officials said on a conference call that there are some limitations with the data, which is preliminary.
“We’re going to be continuing to work on scrubbing the data,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said.
For one, CMS relies on nursing homes to report cases. According to CMS, there are 15,417 long term care facilities and 13,643 facilities have reported data, or 88.5%. Facilities that do not report are subject to fees, officials said. The first deadline to report data was May 17.
Additionally, facilities may have created errors when submitting data, officials said. CMS performed data quality checks to identify instances where facilities may have entered incorrect data. The entity reported 97% of facilities passing this quality assurance check.
CMS officials said they anticipate updating this data weekly. When the remaining 11.5% of nursing homes that have not yet submitted data submit theirs, the data may fluctuate and show a large increase in cases, officials cautioned.
“I think it’s very important to know that these numbers are going to move in the next couple weeks,” Varma said.
