For reporters & researchers
Data & press resources
One place to understand our Texas nursing home data, download what we publish, cite us correctly, and request a custom cut or an interview.
What we analyze
Every certified Texas nursing home, using public CMS records: overall star ratings, staffing, health inspections and immediate-jeopardy findings, federal fines, abuse warnings, ownership, and preventable-harm rates like antipsychotic use, serious falls, and pressure ulcers. All of it is public-domain government data.
What we do not claim
We do not say a flagged home is currently unsafe or bad, and we do not call one home safer or better than another without a published method. A red flag is a factual federal-record marker, a reason to look closer. No facility pays to be listed, ranked, favored, or hidden.
Featured finding
147 of 338 Texas nursing homes rated four or five stars, about 43%, carry at least one serious marker in their federal record. That includes 50 of 133 five-star homes. CMS snapshot 2026-09-05.
Downloads
Free to use with a link back (CC BY 4.0). Figures reproduce from the 2026-09-05 CMS snapshot.
- Transparency scorecard data (CSV)
Facility, city, county, star rating, fines, and red-flag labels for the flagged homes.
- Statewide finding chart (PNG, 1200×630)
The headline 43% finding, sourced and dated, for embedding.
Need a different format, a metro or chain cut, or the underlying permitted fields? Request it below.
Data dictionary
- CMS overall star rating
- The blended 1-to-5 overall rating CMS publishes on Care Compare.
- Red flag
- A factual marker in a home's federal record: an abuse-warning icon, an immediate-jeopardy finding, a fine of $50,000 or more, or a top-tier rate of antipsychotic use, serious falls, or pressure ulcers. A flag is a reason to investigate, not proof a home is currently unsafe.
- Red-flag count
- How many of the six markers a home carries in the current snapshot.
- Highly rated
- A home CMS rates four or five stars overall. The scorecard starts from this set.
- Rate-based markers
- Antipsychotic, serious-fall, and pressure-ulcer markers only count for homes with at least 25 residents, so a small facility's percentage cannot trip them.
- Snapshot date
- The date the CMS data was retrieved for this release: 2026-09-05.
Full definitions, thresholds, exclusions, and sources are on our methodology page.
Cuts we can provide
From the same analysis, we can prepare any of these on request:
- Statewide (all of Texas)
- Metro (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth)
- City or county
- Operator or chain
- A single facility
How to cite Ellery Care
Cite the specific study with a link back to its page. For the transparency scorecard:
Ellery Care Research Team. (2026). Texas Nursing Home Transparency Scorecard. Ellery Care. CMS snapshot 2026-09-05. https://ellerycare.com/studies/texas-nursing-home-transparency-scorecard/
Request a custom cut or an interview
Tell us the geography or topic, your outlet or affiliation, and your deadline. A real person answers, usually within two business days. We can provide permitted underlying fields and a source walkthrough.
Corrections: if a figure is wrong, email [email protected]. We fix it, note the change in the study's public correction log with the date and what moved, and never quietly erase a prior figure.
All Ellery Care studies
Each study's headline finding, sourced to the 2026-09-05 CMS snapshot. Cite the specific study with a link back to its page.
- The Texas nursing home transparency scorecard
A star rating does not tell the whole story. Nearly half of Texas's highly-rated homes carry a serious federal red flag the rating hides. Who, and which flags.
- The best nursing homes in Texas
The homes that earn the government's top rating, carry no abuse flag, and staff far above the state median. Ranked by nurse staffing.
- The 25 worst-staffed nursing homes in Texas
Nurse staffing is the strongest predictor of a home's safety. We ranked every rated Texas home by nurse hours per resident.
- Texas nursing homes cut RN care 24% on weekends
Registered-nurse staffing drops about 24% on weekends — nearly double the fall in total nurse staffing — and the cut is the same at 5-star homes as at 1-star ones.
- 128 Texas nursing homes carry a federal abuse warning
About 1 in 9 rated Texas homes displays the federal abuse-warning icon. The full list, by county, plus what the flag means.
- Texas nursing homes with the most resident falls
A serious fall can break a hip or worse. We ranked the Texas homes where long-stay residents most often suffer a fall with major injury.
- Texas nursing homes with the most bedsores
Most pressure ulcers are preventable with attentive care. Texas beats the national average, but these homes are the exception. The 25 highest rates.
- Texas nursing homes that still use physical restraints
Physical restraints are nearly gone from Texas nursing homes. Only a couple dozen still use them at all, and the worst is a 4-star home.
- Antipsychotic drugging in Texas nursing homes
Some homes give antipsychotic drugs to a quarter or more of their long-stay residents. The highest rates in Texas, and what the number means.
- The Texas nursing homes with the most federal fines
CMS fines homes for serious violations. These 25 Texas homes have paid the most, and here is how to read a fine total.
- The largest nursing home chains in Texas
Most Texas homes belong to big operators. How the largest chains compare on ratings, staffing, antipsychotic use, and fines.
- For-profit vs. non-profit: the Texas quality gap
For-profit Texas homes are about twice as likely to carry a federal abuse flag as non-profits, and they staff lower and rate lower. The full sector comparison.
See the studies index or our methodology and sources.