CMS Focuses On Enforcement In Latest Statement On SNF Policies

Senate Finance Committee hearing focuses on nursing home abuse

Mar 8, 2019

Issues of staffing, quality and funding, particularly Medicaid reimbursement, were addressed by David Grabowski, Ph.D., a professor at the Harvard Medical School and David Gifford, M.D., who heads up quality and regulatory affairs for the American Health Care Association.

CMS Strengthens Nursing Home Oversight and Safety to Ensure Adequate Staffing

Nov 30, 2018

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced actions that will bolster nursing home oversight and improve transparency in order to ensure that facilities are staffed adequately to provide high-quality care.

These actions include sharing data with states when potential issues arise regarding staffing levels and the availability of onsite registered nurses; clarifying how facilities should report hours and deduct time for staff meal breaks; and providing facilities with new tools to help ensure their resident census is accurate.

House Hearing Focuses on Nursing Home Safety and Quality

Sep 6, 2018

This week, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce (E&C) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing entitled “Examining Efforts to Ensure Quality of Care and Resident Safety in Nursing Homes.” The purpose of the hearing was to explore the roles of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) relating to the management and safety of nursing facilities.

The PBJ quality quest

Jul 27, 2018

In McKnights, Don Feige observes how CMS continues their quest to create a standardized, consistent measure of staffing across the industry by closing loopholes and clarifying gray areas.

Nursing Home Staffing Measures Transitioning to PBJ Data

Apr 30, 2018

Leading Age NY informs its members how CMS is shifting the data source used to calculate the staffing measures of the nursing home quality rating system from self reported 671 data to auditable PBJ reports.

Ftag of the Week – F727 RN 8 Hrs/7 days/Wk, Full Time DON

Apr 13, 2018

This week’s CMSCG Blog Series “Ftag of the Week” is F727 RN 8 hours a day / 7 days a week, Full Time DON, which is part of the Nursing Services Regulatory Group.

This regulation is one that all providers are aware of, but it warrants a reminder thanks to a QSO memo released late last week about the Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ).

PBJ data goes public

Sep 30, 2017

In a memo published earlier this week, CMS announced that they will begin posting PBJ public use files for viewing by LTC facilities, stakeholders, and the general public at http://data.cms.gov/ on November 1, 2017.

Ftag of the Week – F851 Payroll Based Journal

Sep 21, 2017

CMSCG continues its “Ftag of the Week” blog series with F851 Payroll Based Journal, which is part of the Administration regulatory group under the renumbered Ftags. Each facility is responsible for ensuring that complete and accurate direct care staffing data that is entered into the Payroll-Based Journal system is auditable and, as the name implies, verifiable through payroll, invoices and/or is tied back to a contract.

PBJ reporting begins

Jul 30, 2016

In McKnights, Don Feige describes some of the trickier parts of the PBJ reporting rules that providers need to either validate or make changes to systems and processes to ensure staffing data is PBJ compliant

Getting prepared for the new payroll-based journal reporting requirements

Mar 30, 2016

Mandatory compliance with the new Centers for Medicare & Medicated Services (CMS) payroll-based journal reporting (PBJ) requirements begins July 1, 2016. Are you prepared? Whether it’s reaching out to your payroll or timekeeping vendors to supply the data, working with internal IT departments, or contacting other IT software companies, it’s critical you find a solution now.

The Start of PBJ Practice Data Submission

Dec 30, 2015

CMS encouraged providers to use the voluntary submission period beginning October 1, 2015 to test their PBJ data submission processes. The mandatory filing period begins July 1, 2016.

CMS announces a new Payroll-Based Journal system

Apr 30, 2015

CMS will require that staffing and census data be collected on a quarterly basis, and that the submitted data is both timely and accurate. The data will be collected for each fiscal quarter.

Staffing data includes the number of hours worked by each staff member each day within the quarter, and includes entries for administration, physician services, nursing services, pharmacy services, dietary services, therapeutic services, dental services, podiatry services, mental health services, vocational services, clinical laboratory services, diagnostic x-ray services, administration & storage of blood, housekeeping services, and a generic “other services” category for staff not included in one of the previous categories