I have an 80 year old mother that has a CD in her name. She wants to transfer ownership of the cd to her children. My main question is... does the IRS consider this income and can her children then be taxed on this transfer and if so at what rate?

She can set them up as co owners, she can have them become the owners at her death, there are many options

I think she is afraid that if at some point she has to move to a nursing home that her assets might be taken for payment. She is trying to move this out of her name completely. I am not sure how the IRS feels about this sort of thing.