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People looking for care at a nursing home in Utah now can check government ratings for the facilities.
The program is similar to movie rankings, but it's for nursing homes. Five stars means excellent care, but only seven of the 93 nursing homes in Utah reviewed by the government received that rating.
Twenty-two ranked below average with two stars, and 17 have only one star.
But Larry Minnix, president of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, says the rating system doesn't accurately rate nursing homes.
"The public ought to have an automatic expectation that nursing home care is good. There should be two kinds of nursing homes: the excellent and the non-existent," he said.
The ratings are based on inspections, staffing levels and general health. You can see them all at medicare.gov/nhcompare.
The government hopes this will make choosing a nursing home easier and more informed. But some nursing home administrators in Utah say it's too generic to be very useful.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com