OIG Calls on CMS to Crack Down on Nursing Home Staffing, Increase Consumer Transparency

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should be doing more to enforce proper staffing levels at nursing homes, while providing more detailed information about nurse coverage hours to the public, the federal government’s top health care watchdog found in a new report.

About 7% of the nation’s nursing facilities failed to meet one of two key staffing requirements for at least 30 total days in 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) determined; another 7% logged between 16 and 29 days with non-compliant staffing levels.