As we reported last quarter, CMS announced in January that the Medicare.gov Care Compare website continues to report new layers of staffing detail:

• Weekend staffing: The level of total nurse and registered nurse (RN) staffing on weekends over a quarter
• Staff turnover: The percentage of nursing staff and number of administrators that stopped working at the nursing home over a 12-month period
• Detailed staffing data: Employee-level staffing data

This information allows consumers to review nursing homes’ measures relative to other nursing homes and will be included in the Five-Star ratings as of July 2022.

What can SNFs do now?

We won’t know the full impact of these metrics on overall staffing measures until CMS releases new Technical Specifications for Five-Star. For now, we recommend these best practices:

• Verify Employee ID consistency in your PBJ submissions. If you changed timekeeping and/or payroll systems and did not maintain the same Employee IDs, employees with the old IDs will be considered by CMS as having ended their work at your facility. To fix this, submit an Employee ID Linking file to connect the old and new Employee IDs. Failing to do so will artificially increase your staff turnover measures.
  
• Audit your weekend staffing hours to confirm that Saturday–Sunday nursing hours do not vary significantly from Monday–Friday. If you notice variations in weekend/weekday hours, you’ll want to adjust hours accordingly.

Something else to consider

Weekend staffing data and staff turnover data were just two recommendations from previous OIG and GAO reports. Another recommendation covered the importance of non-nurse staffing data. CMS' inclusion of administrators in staffing turnover is a likely nod to this, and facilities should note the other non-nurse staff mentioned:

• Medical directors
• Dietitians
• Pharmacists
• Social workers
• Activity staff

As CMS continues to “further enhance the information available to consumers, residents and families” through data transparency, these non-nurse staff may eventually find a seat at the PBJ table.

Your Q2 2022 (Jan 1–Mar 31, 2022) PBJ staffing data is due to CMS by 11:59pm ET  on Sunday, May 15 and will post to Care Compare the end of June 2022. Last quarter’s Staffing Five-Star (Oct 1–Dec 31, 2021 data) will post to Care Compare the end of April.

Apr 28, 2022 | 2:30pm CT

SimplePBJ will host its quarterly PBJ check-in webinar on Apr 28. Learn the latest CMS updates and ask your PBJ questions. When you register, please include your specific PBJ questions on the form so we can be sure to cover them during the live Q&A.