1 in 3 nursing homes fall in staffing under new CMS Five-Star rating system

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officially unveiled its updated Five-Star rating system on Wednesday, and it revealed that thousands of nursing homes’ ratings had dropped. The new system takes weekend staffing levels and turnover rates into play for the first time.

An analysis by consulting and analytics firm Formation Healthcare found that more than a quarter of providers (3,783) nationally declined in overall 5-star rating from June to July, with 419 losing 2 or more stars.

“A new quarter of staffing data was released to which CMS applied their new methodology for rating staffing that integrates staffing hours per resident day, nursing staff and administrator turnover, and weekend staffing rates. Considering these changes, 4,850 providers (33%) declined in staffing rating, with 939 losing 2 or more stars,”