Other Updates Coming on July 31 to Nursing Home Data and Care Compare
Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released QSO-24-14-NH regarding updates coming to Nursing Home Care Compare and Data.CMS.gov on July 31, 2024. The updates reflect previously announced changes that CMS made public in September 2023. The changes are outlined below.
Revising How the Staff Turnover Measure is Calculated
CMS will revise the nursing home staffing turnover methodology on July 31 to exclude employees who are on leave for 90 days or less from being counted as staff turnover. Currently, any staff absence of 60 days or more counts as turnover. The turnover measures include:
- Percent of nurse staff that stop working at a facility; and
- Number of administrators who left the facility within a given year.
The change to 90 days from 60 allows individuals to take the full 12 weeks of maternity or parental leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and not count as turnover. This change should lower turnover rates.
Implementing New Staffing Level Case-Mix Adjustment Methodology
Beginning on July 31, CMS will post the new staffing level case-mix adjustment methodology for staffing measures reported on Care Compare. CMS will revise the staffing rating thresholds to maintain the same overall distribution of points for affected staffing measures.
It is important to note that CMS will maintain the same overall distribution of points for staffing measures, but it’s possible for a facility’s star rating to change. Changes to facility staffing ratings after July 31, 2024, may be due to a few reasons, including:
- The updated staffing level case-mix adjustment methodology;
- Changes in the number of staffing hours reported by facilities from one quarter to the next; and/or
- Updates to the staffing turnover methodology.
Updating Quality Measure Risk-Adjustment with Most Recent Data
CMS will also revise the risk adjustment methodology for the claims-based quality measures to incorporate the most recent data available. The technical specifications can be found in the downloads section
here.
Posting Facility-Level Data on Resident and Facility Characteristics
Beginning on July 31, CMS will start posting aggregate MDS data at the facility-level on
Data.CMS.gov. The data will likely be facility-level version of the MDS frequency data currently available at the
state- and national-level. Additionally, CMS will also post facility characteristics collected on the
CMS-671 form on each nursing home’s annual standard inspection. The facility characteristics include:
- Types of services a facility provides,
- Ownership type, and
- Resident census
The availability of this information aligns with CMS’s commitment to transparency. CMS will also provide instructions for how to download the data.
Updating Nursing Home Guides Posted on Care Compare
CMS will post new guides for consumers on the
Nursing Home Care Compare website as part of the agency’s efforts to promote "minimum health and safety expectations.” The new consumer guides will aim to allow consumers and residents to more easily interpret the information posted on the Care Compare website to assist with choosing a nursing home and provide increased awareness of residents’ rights.