On Friday, North Carolina launched a four-star online rating system for adult care homes, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
The Web site includes ratings for about 60 of the state's more than 1,200 family care homes and assisted living centers. The state plans to post additional ratings as more centers are inspected throughout the year (Raleigh News & Observer, 2/23).
The ratings include violations since Jan. 1, as well as centers' performance on minimum standards of staffing, security, training, sanitation, medication dispensing and other measures.
Past Violations
The rating Web site received some criticism for not including violations prior to 2009 (Goldsmith, Raleigh News & Observer, 2/20).
In response to the feedback, state Rep. Jennifer Weiss (D), a sponsor of the legislation that created the state's four-star rating system, requested that the state Division of Health Service Regulation include a link to penalties and violations on the adult care facility rating Web site (Raleigh News & Observer, 2/23).