CMS Survey & Certification Letter
MEMO NUMBER: 17-25-NH
PUBLISHED: April 21, 2017
CMS LISTING: Survey & Certification Letter 17-25
In April 2017 memorandum 17-25-NH CMS updates providers on their learnings from the prior submissions. Approximately 91% of LTC facilities submitted staffing data by the last deadline of February 14, 2017. CMS reminds the rest that PBJ submissions are not optional.
Providers are being given feedback from CMS in the monthly Nursing Home Compare Provider Preview, which is available in their certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) folder. Feedback includes likely submission errors such as:
- If a facility did not report hours for nursing staff for each day
- If a facility reported over 80 hours worked for any one staff member over a one week period, or over 300 hours worked in a month
- A comparison of the facility’s reported census information to a census calculated using Minimum Data Set (MDS) data. CMS is considering the MDS method instead of reported census.
In addition, CMS is adding information to the Nursing Home Compare website to encourage provider compliance:
- Added icons next to each facility to reflect whether that facility has submitted data by the last deadline System
- Removed the Overall and Staffing Five Star ratings for providers that have not submitted any data for two consecutive deadlines (May 15 and February 14). Ratings will be suppressed (i.e., removed) until data is received
Finally CMS notified everyone that they’ve updated the PBJ Policy Manual to make these items optional (instead of required)
- hire date for each staff member
- termination date for each staff member
- hours for staff in the Dental Services (Job Title Code 32)
- hours for staff in the Podiatry Services (Job Title Code 33)
- hours for staff in the Vocational Services (Job Title Code 35)