Thousands of nursing homes face lower Five-Star ratings

New Five-Star scoring metrics could penalize an estimated 10% to 16% of providers who have relied on staffing strengths to drive their overall ratings.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday published new guidance for calculating staffing stars in the public-facing rating system. It incorporates total nurse staffing on weekends; annual RN and total nurse turnover; and administrator turnover.

The guidance also tightens up which facilities can get an extra star for above-average staffing. Instead of awarding an additional star for facilities with a 4-star staffing rating, CMS will now reserve that privilege for facilities with 5-star staffing ratings only.