44% of nursing homes were fined in three years: 16% in Alabama, 75% in South Dakota

Sources

• CMS Provider Data Catalog, Nursing Home Provider Information (opens in a new tab)NH_ProviderInfo_Sep2026_3.csv (modified September 30, 2026): State, Number of Fines, Total Amount of Fines in Dollars
• CMS Provider Data Catalog, Penalties (opens in a new tab)NH_Penalties_Sep2026_2.csv: Penalty Date, Penalty Type, Fine Amount

Method

Kent Applied counted, for each state, the currently active nursing homes in CMS's Provider Information file and those whose Number of Fines is 1 or more. CMS's Penalties file lists the fines and payment denials of the last three years, dated by the inspection that triggered each one; in the September 2026 file those dates run from September 17, 2023, to August 17, 2026. The two files agree, home by home, on the number of fines and their dollar total. A payment denial, when Medicare and Medicaid stop paying for new admissions, is not a fine and is not counted. The median is the midpoint of the three-year totals of the homes fined in that state: half were fined more, half less. The national share counts every home in the file, including Guam (1 home) and Puerto Rico (9 homes), which the map leaves out.

Published

November 5, 2026

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