CMS Makes Nursing Home Staffing Data Available

Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began posting, for the first time ever, staff turnover rates and weekend staff levels for nursing homes on the Medicare.gov Care Compare website.

CMS calculates staff turnover as the percent of nursing staff and number of administrators that stopped working at a nursing home over a 12-month period. The nursing staff included in this measure includes licensed nurse staff—i.e., registered nurses (RNs); licensed practical and vocational nurses; as well as nurse aides who work under the direction of licensed nurse staff and provide much of the day-to-day care for nursing home residents such as eating, bathing, grooming, and toileting. Weekend staffing is the level of total nurse and RN staffing on weekends provided by each nursing home over a quarter.

CMS has explored the relationship between staff turnover and quality of care and a preliminary analysis indicates that as the average staff turnover decreases, the overall star ratings for facilities increases, suggesting that lower turnover is associated with higher overall quality.