News Digest: PBJ Data Goes Public
The payroll based journal program shifted into a higher gear with the publication of a new CMS Survey and Certification letter. PBJ data is now publicly available and visitors to Nursing Home Compare will start seeing icons describing levels of PBJ compliance for every facility.
CMS to Share PBJ Data
In a recent Survey and Certification Letter (S&C: 17-45-NH), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that they will begin publishing public use files containing some nursing staffing data submitted through the Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) system on Nov. 1, 2017. The data will be posted here for viewing by long term care facilities, stakeholders, or the general public.
While CMS intends to start using the PBJ data to calculate and report staffing levels, tenure, and turnover measures in 2018, at this time, the 5-Star system continues to rely on staffing data collected on form CMS-671 at the time of a facility’s survey.
“CMS to Share PBJ Data.” LeadingAge New York, www.leadingageny.org/providers/nursing-homes/survey-clinical-and-quality/cms-to-share-pbj-data.
CMS announces date for PBJ public use files to be made public
In a memo published earlier this week, CMS announced that they will begin posting PBJ public use files for viewing by LTC facilities, stakeholders, and the general public at https://data.cms.gov/ on November 1, 2017.
The first public use file posted will include data submitted by facilities for the reporting period of calendar quarters 1 and 2, which had deadline submissions of May 15 and August 14 2017. CMS will continue to post subsequent quarters of data as they become available.
The data will include the total number of hours submitted for nursing services job categories (e.g., registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, and nurse aides) for each day in the quarter, in addition to each facility’s census for each day in the quarter as calculated using minimum data set (MDS) submissions.
Hurlburt, Amanda. “CMS Announces Date for PBJ Public Use Files to Be Made Public.” The Post-Acute Advisor, 27 Sept. 2017. No longer available.
Related CMS and PBJ Resources
To learn more about the details, policies and information in these articles, please review these CMS and PBJ publications.
QSO Memo 17-45-NH
PBJ Policy Manual v2.4
