CMS outlines 4-pronged minimum staffing study

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Monday revealed more details about how it will use nursing home site visits, data and other tools to formulate a minimum staffing standard, one that is meant to “build on” rather than replace previous studies.

That may mean bad news for operators who had hoped the agency would take a broader view of staffing by including non-nursing positions in its calculations or by creating shift coverage rules instead of hourly minimums.

Agency researchers said Monday that in addition to comments already collected about the potential new rule, they will use four main components in their ongoing work.