Nursing homes subject to one star rating if they go more than four days without an RN onsite

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is updating the nursing home compare and the five-star quality rating system by dropping the threshold for RN staffing from seven to four days, adding a measure for hospitalizations among long-stay residents and lifting the freeze on health inspections.

The changes go into effect in April.

Currently, facilities that report seven or more days in a quarter without a registered nurse onsite are assigned a one-star staffing rating. Starting next month, it will only take four days to trigger the automatic downgrade to one-star.