CMS Strengthens Nursing Home Oversight and Safety to Ensure Adequate Staffing

The 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.

“CMS takes very seriously our responsibility to protect the safety and quality of care for our beneficiaries,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.

“Today CMS is taking important steps to protect nursing home residents based on potential risks revealed by new payroll-based staffing data that our Administration released. We’re deeply concerned about potential inadequacies in staffing, such as low weekend staffing levels or times when registered nurses are not onsite, and the impact that this can have on patient care.”