The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services CMS has issued a memo regarding the Transition to Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) Staffing Measures on the Nursing Home Compare tool on Medicare.gov and the Five Star Quality Rating System

Starting in April, 2018, CMS will use PBJ data to determine each facility’s staffing measure on the Nursing Home Compare tool on Medicare.gov website, and calculate the staffing rating used in the Nursing Home Five Star Quality Rating System. The memo explains that CMS is providing lessons-learned from audits conducted, and guidance to facilities for improving their accuracy. Nursing homes whose audit identifies significant inaccuracies between the hours reported and the hours verified, or facilities who fail to submit any data by the required deadline will be presumed to have low levels of staff. This will result in a one-star rating in the staffing domain, which will drop their overall (composite) star rating by one star for a quarter.

In the memo, CMS reminds nursing homes of the importance of RN staffing and the requirement to have an RN onsite 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. Nursing homes reporting 7 or more days in a quarter with no RN hours will receive a one-star rating in the staffing domain, which will drop their overall (composite) star rating by one star for a quarter. This action will be implemented in July 2018, after the May 15, 2018 submission deadline for data for 2018 Calendar Quarter 1, 2018 (January – March, 2018) data.

CMS is continuing its efforts to help nursing homes submit accurate data, and there are a variety of ways described in the memo in which facilities can seek support.

As of June 1, 2018, CMS will no longer collect facility staffing data through the CMS-671 form.