Nearly 1.5 million Americans reside in nursing homes, and each year, more than three million Americans are temporarily placed in nursing homes. Finding a nursing home for a loved one can be a harrowing experience. Well, help is on the way.

Last week, the Bush administration announced that, by the end of this year, it will implement a rating system for the approximately 16,000 nursing homes in the United StatesIn an effort to improve the quality of nursing home care, each nursing home will be rated on a scale of one to five stars, based on government inspection results, staffing data, and quality measures. It is expected that these ratings will be available on the Medicare web site (www.cms.hhs.gov).

Federal officials also announced new regulations that will require all nursing homes to install sprinkler systems by 2013. Currently, an estimated one out of every 11 nursing homes doesn't have a sprinkler system. Any homes that fail to comply with this safety measure by the deadline will not be permitted to serve Medicare participants.