Understanding where a facility stands relative to CMS cut points across all three rating domains allows administrators to allocate limited resources toward the changes most likely to raise their overall star rating.
State of Skilled Nursing Facilities Today, Planning for the Future
An American Health Care Association’s (AHCA) report produced by CLA on the state of the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) industry was publicly released in March. It highlighted the financial struggles SNFs have and continue to weather in 2022 and beyond.
While the AHCA report is concerning, we can also view it as an opportunity to look at where the industry is going and how to better align with that. The AHCA press release focused on four key findings, each of which would be stressful but imagine nursing home leaders concurrently weathering all four. That’s our focus for today. What are the four key findings and what can nursing home leaders do today to put themselves on the path of recovery? Some of the answers include strategic planning, operational assessments, and self-evaluation. Nursing facilities should work now to determine changes that can be made – clinically, operationally, and financially – for better or more strategic outcomes.
— CliftonLarsonAllen | AHCA, March 8, 2022. Link no longer available.
How to Boost Your Nursing Home Star Rating
The scoring process sources data from the Payroll-based Journal (PBJ) and is based on two case-mix adjusted ratios: the total number of nursing hours per resident day (RN + LPN + nurse aide hours), and the total number of RN hours per resident day. SNF’s with a higher proportion of RNs on staff tend to perform better on the staffing measure than those that don’t.
— DashPoint Analytics, November 2, 2021
Staffing Rating Under 4 Stars? Review PBJ Data; Set and Monitor Goals
Staffing is difficult—that was a defining truth for nursing homes before the COVID-19 public health emergency created a full-blown staffing crisis that still is harming providers throughout healthcare. So, it may seem like the wrong time for directors of nursing services (DNSs) to pay much attention to the staffing domain in the Five-Star Quality Rating System. “However, all of the Five-Star data—the staffing, health inspections, and quality measures domains—funnels into multiple parts of a facility’s life,” says Shelly Maffia, RN, MSN, MBA, NHA, QCP, CHC, director of regulatory services for Proactive Medical Review and Consulting in Evansville, IN.
— AAPACN, September 20, 2021. Link no longer available.
Blog: 5 Star, QMs, and PBJ Data Updates
July 19th, the Five Star Preview Reports became available for review within the CASPER reporting link located on the CMS QIES Systems for Providers page. July 28th (on or around), ratings will be displayed on Care Compare. Health inspection rating incorporates data reported through June 30, 2021. This publicly displayed information accuracy is critical as the impact in regards to census through community referrals, managed care arrangements and financial penalties can be long lasting.
— QRM Health, July 2021
