QSO Memo 22-08-NH

QSO Memo 22-08-NH

CMS released QSO Memo 22-08-NH dated Friday, January 7th, about their intention to start posting nursing home staff turnover and weekend staffing levels. 

CMS has had concerns related to low staffing on weekends. Also, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) analyzed the level of staffing from day to day and raised concerns that consumers may not be aware that some nursing homes have considerable variation in their daily staffing levels.  CMS will begin posting data on the level of weekend RN and total nurse (e.g., RN, licensed practical nurse (LPN), certified nurse aide (CNA)) staffing for all nursing homes on the Care Compare website in January 2022. This will be reported in terms of the average number of RN and total nurse hours worked per resident per day on weekends. Furthermore, to encourage facilities to increase nurse staffing on weekends, CMS will also add the measure of total nurse staffing on weekends to the staffing rating domain of the Nursing Home Five Star Quality Rating System in July 2022.

CMS states the association between turnover and quality is important and is valuable to consumers. Therefore, CMS plans to post the following measures of staff turnover in January 2022 and include these measures in the staffing domain of the Nursing Home Five Star Quality Rating System in July 2022:

  • The percent of RN staff that left the facility over the last year.
  • The percent of total nurse staff that have left the facility over the last year.
  • The number of administrators that have left the facility over the last year.

The technical specifications for weekend staffing and staff turnover measures will be included in the Five Star Rating System Technical Users’ Guide on January 14, 2022.  

Questions?

Contact:

Laura Hofmann, MSN, RN – Director of Clinical and Nursing Facility Regulatory Services
c: 425-231-4804

PrintNews BulletinArchivesCategories

January 12, 2022