In March 2019, CMS released memorandum QSO-19-08-NH, which outlined a plan to update the quality measure (QM) rating thresholds every six months. The plan was to increase the thresholds by 50% of the average rate of improvement in QM rating scores. For example, if there is an average rate of improvement of 2%, the QM rating thresholds would be raised 1%. Similar to setting new thresholds, this action also aims to incentivize continuous quality improvement. Additionally, it reduces the need to have larger adjustments to the thresholds in the future. Due to COVID 19, these updates were put on hold; however, we began implementing them in April 2022, and we plan to update them again with the October 2022 refresh. CMS will also release a new Five-Star Quality Rating System Technical Users’ Guide with the updated QM rating thresholds in October.

Questions

Contact:

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