AIMING TO HELP AMERICANS make good choices in selecting a nursing home, the government is releasing new federal data that compare the quality of facilities in their area.

The Department of Health and Human Services yesterday posted nursing-home data on its Medicare Web site, showing how individual locations compare with others in their region. The site uses indicators such as what percentage of patients have bed sores or have lost the ability to perform basic daily tasks. Statistics on violations found during inspections and staffing levels are also available.

Currently, many families rely on hospital discharge planners to help them decide where to take an elderly relative who can't live on his or her own. It can be a frantic process. The new Web site can give people an idea of what is available in their area and is especially helpful in identifying homes where care is inadequate.

The Medicare Web site previously had some information on nursing homes. But it has now been beefed up, standardized and made easier to use. The information is available at www.medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-Medicare.

"People out there are starving for information and we're giving them as much as we can," said Tom Scully, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

About 2.9 million Americans live in nursing homes, and an estimated one-half of women and one-third of men will spend some time in one during their lifetimes. The government pays for about 82% of the beds in the nation's nursing homes, through Medicare, the federal program for the elderly and disabled, and Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor and disabled.

In addition to being a tool for consumers, the nursing-home data could push the industry to improve quality. During a six-month trial run that made the data available in six states, more than half of the nursing homes involved sought help from government contractors assigned to help them improve quality.

With nationwide availability of the data, "the good homes will shine," said Larry Minnix, president of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, which represents about 5,600 facilities. "Those who refuse to get better will be driven out of business, and that's the way it should be."

Even so, patient advocates and the nursing-home industry cautioned that the data shouldn't be used exclusively to decide on a facility for a family member. The site requires the consumer to sort through a complicated set of information that doesn't give the full picture of what a nursing home is like. Even if a home has a high percentage of patients with bed sores, for example, it is much more important to find out how quickly and competently such problems are dealt with.

AARP, the advocacy group for older Americans, recommends that consumers make repeat visits to possible facilities at different times of the day, talk with staff and residents and find out if their state has its own rating system.

The new data are "not a substitute for any of that," said John Rother, AARP's director of policy and strategy. "But more information is always better."

The 10 quality measures are broken down into six for long-term nursing-home residents and four for short-stay residents. For long-term residents, who live in the homes an average of two to three years, there are data showing the percentage with pain, infections and in physical restraints. For short-term patients, who stay an average of three to four weeks, the data show how many maintain or improve the ability to walk while at the home, as well as the percentage with delirium and pain.

Anna Spinella, who volunteers as an advocate for nursing-home patients in the Tampa, Fla., area, questions the Web site's usefulness for people who have to locate a nursing home quickly and don't know much about how they work.

"How many 60- to 70-year-old people are familiar enough with the Internet that they'll go to a Web site when they're told their husband or wife is going to be discharged [from the hospital to a nursing home] in three hours?" asks the 68-year-old Ms. Spinella. "The upside is it's another pair of eyes, and it is more information."