Nursing Facility Staffing Shortages During the COVID-19 PandemicThe disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing facility residents and staff has brought increased attention to long-standing workforce issues that can affect care...

Daily variation in nursing home staffing was associated with poorer clinical quality in Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing homes, suggesting that reporting staffing variation could help provide new quality improvement information, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

Typically, nursing home quality regulations include minimum staffing standards to ensure that facilities provide residents with quality care. Meeting the average staffing level has been associated with better performance on process quality measures, on-site survey scores, and resident outcome measures.

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.

However, CMS has opportunities to better use the staffing information that nursing homes report. Specifically, the staffing information that CMS provides on Care Compare could be more useful to consumers if it included data on nurse staff turnover and tenure, as required by Federal law. CMS reported that the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its progress to implement these requirements.”