Skilled Nursing Facilities Can’t Just ‘Check the Box’ Under New Payroll Requirements

When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began basing its rating of nursing home staffing levels on payroll records in April of this year, many skilled nursing facilities were found to be underreporting their nursing and caretaking personnel levels.

Soon after the New York Times published an analysis of the records by Kaiser Health News — which showed serious fluctuations in skilled nursing facility staffing – CMS hit almost 1,400 facilities with one-star ratings for staffing coverage.

The results came as a surprise to some facilities, according to Don Feige, the founder and former owner of SNF-focused software firm ezPBJ.