Nursing Home Staffing Hours Held Steady or Rose During Pandemic

In the May issue of Health Affairs, a new study of government data show nursing home staffing levels during the COVID-19 pandemic held steady or actually increased, dispelling at least in part prior research and coverage in the media that staffing hours declined during the crisis.

In “Nursing Home Staffing Levels Did Not Change Significantly During COVID-19,” report authors said an examination of staffing hours during the first nine months of 2020 (compared with the same period in 2019) used auditable daily payroll-based staffing data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to show a different story.