CMS Fixes Staffing Rating System – 1400 Nursing Homes See Fewer Stars

Medicare has recently begun using actual payroll data, rather than self-serving analyses by nursing homes, to address the issue of under-staffing. The result: 1 in 11 nursing homes in the country have seen their star ratings fall. Medicare uses a 5-Star rating system to assist the public in choosing nursing homes. Until recently, the important variable of staffing was left to the candor of the nursing home providers, which resulted in inaccurate reporting of staffing levels. “It’s a real positive that they are actually taking the payroll-based system seriously, that they’re using it to punish those nursing homes that either aren’t reporting staffing or those that are below the federal limit, “ said David Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. Despite the improved metrics, one problem still persists: weekend staffing. On weekends on average, there were 11 percent fewer nurses providing direct care, and 8 percent fewer aides. You can read the entire article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/27/health/medicare-nursing-homes.html