Skilled Nursing Facilities Can’t Just ‘Check The Box’ Under New Payroll Requirements

CMS Updates Staffing & Turnover Measures

Sep 21, 2023

the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued updates to guidance on minimum health and safety standards that Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities (often called “nursing homes”) must meet to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.

CMS also updated and developed new guidance in the State Operations Manual (SOM) to address issues that significantly affect residents of LTC facilities.

U.S. News & World Report nursing home ratings poke holes in CMS ratings

Nov 23, 2022

U.S. News & World Report nursing home ratings poke holes in CMS ratingsU.S. News & World Report recently released its 2022-2023 nursing home ratings, which revealed major differences in its assessments compared with the Centers for Medicare...

Ask the payment expert …. about the total nurse staffing measure

Nov 11, 2022

Q: What is the Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Payment Total Nurse Staffing Measure?
A: The Total Nursing Hours Per Resident Day Measure uses auditable electronic data reported to the Payroll-Based Journal system to calculate total nursing hours per resident day. It is one of two new measures that will begin affecting payments in the FY 2026 SNF VBP program year, the other being SNF Healthcare Associated Infections Requiring Hospitalization.

States get needed nurse aide waiver relief but workers’ fates uncertain

Oct 7, 2022

Skilled nursing providers in at least 15 states averted the loss of thousands of frontline workers Thursday, when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services let expire a blanket national waiver allowing the use of non-certified nurse aides. Those states had been awarded new waivers through an application process, meaning they demonstrated testing backlogs or other delays that kept providers from converting a large share of temporary nurse aides into permanent certified nurse assistants.

Thousands of nursing homes face lower Five-Star ratings

Jul 31, 2022

New Five-Star scoring metrics could penalize an estimated 10% to 16% of providers who have relied on staffing strengths to drive their overall ratings.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday published new guidance for calculating staffing stars in the public-facing rating system. It incorporates total nurse staffing on weekends; annual RN and total nurse turnover; and administrator turnover.

CMS offers leniency to Kronos users impacted by ransomware attack

Feb 3, 2022

Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG), a software used by SNFs for PBJ submission, was the victim of a ransomware attack on December 11, 2021. CMS announced it will not downgrade affected facilities that miss the February 14, 2022 PBJ submission deadline or submit incomplete information.

Impacted Kronos users need to contact CMS by March 1, 2022 with specific requested information as noted in the CMS memo below.

To Advance Information on Quality of Care, CMS Makes Nursing Home Staffing Data Available

Jan 30, 2022

the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin posting for the first time ever, staff turnover rates and weekend staff levels for nursing homes on the Medicare.gov Care Compare website today

How to Boost Your Nursing Home Star Rating

Nov 2, 2021

For the administrator looking to improve an overall quality score quickly, the staffing score is a good place to start.

The staffing score will boost a facility’s overall score by one star if it: exceeds the health inspection score, and is either four or five stars.

Importance of the human touch

Oct 13, 2021

Everyone falls into auto-mode now and then. While SimplePBJ continues to discover and add new verification checks for potential issues, the human touch is still needed to confirm the PBJ data you’re submitting is accurate.

Don’t get lulled into thinking the data from your payroll or timekeeping system is 100% PBJ ready. Many times that ends up not being the case.

Staffing Rating Under 4 Stars? Review PBJ Data; Set and Monitor Goals

Sep 20, 2021

Staffing is difficult—that was a defining truth for nursing homes before the COVID-19 public health emergency created a full-blown staffing crisis that still is harming providers throughout healthcare. So, it may seem like the wrong time for directors of nursing services (DNSs) to pay much attention to the staffing domain in the Five-Star Quality Rating System.

“However, all of the Five-Star data—the staffing, health inspections, and quality measures domains—funnels into multiple parts of a facility’s life,” says Shelly Maffia, RN, MSN, MBA, NHA, QCP, CHC, director of regulatory services for Proactive Medical Review and Consulting in Evansville, IN.

5 Star, QMs, and PBJ Data Updates

Jul 27, 2021

5 Star, QM’s and PBJ data updates have been released. Last week, we shared that QRP’s were released for review. All are critical reporting which impacts our 2022 FY reimbursement and our publicly displayed information on Care Compare. There are a few small windows of time for review and correction if needed.

Marys Take: Maggots, Rape and Yet Five Stars: How U.S. Ratings of Nursing Homes Mislead the Public

Mar 16, 2021

Nursing homes have manipulated the influential star system in ways that have masked deep problems — and left them unprepared for Covid-19. The piece, as you may have already deduced speaks to Nursing Home Compare, the Five-Star Rating System and Payroll Based Journal (PBJ).