Last week, CMS stunned the skilled nursing community with its release of new details for calculating Staffing Ratings. The new methodology will be featured in the upcoming July 2022 Five-Star Ratings Report.

What does this mean to me?

Skilled nursing organizations, take note: CMS will now require a Staffing score of five stars to improve a SNF’s overall Five-Star score. Previously, it was possible to improve the overall Five-Star score with a Staffing Rating of either four or five stars.

CMS is changing how it calculates Five-Star Staffing Ratings. In addition to the current two measures (case-mix adjusted HRD for RNs and for total nursing), CMS has added four new staffing data points to calculate the Five-Star Staffing Rating:

• Total Nursing Adjusted HRD for weekend days
• The percentage of total nursing staff (RNs, LPNs, LVNs, Nurse Aids, Medication Aids/Technicians) who left the SNF over a 12-month period
• The percentage of RNs who left the SNF over a 12-month period
• The number of administrators who left the SNF over a 12-month period

For each measure (except for administrator turnover), SNFs will now be grouped into deciles based on the national distribution of each measure. Each measure will be given a numeric score. The six staffing measures are weighted in this table:

CMS will take the sum of the scores to assign SNFs a Staffing Rating. The cut points for the star ratings are as follows:

How can I minimize falling stars?

SNF organizations are understandably concerned about the sudden change in Five-Star calculations. But there are steps you can take to maximize your Staffing rating as well as your overall success with PBJ compliance.

Accurate and timely PBJ submission is more important than ever. Take full advantage of the tools in SimplePBJ™ to ensure you check all the boxes for PBJ success. And be sure to submit your data ahead of the deadline.

With the new turnover metrics in effect, be sure your staff have only one EmployeeID on file in CMS. If a staff member has been submitted with more than one EmployeeID, use the EmployeeID Linking option in the Staff section of SimplePBJ. Otherwise, your turnover statistics will likely be artificially high.

Finally, be sure to attend our PBJ quarterly webinar. Register now to learn the latest updates and best practices for managing your Five-Star Staffing Ratings in light of these new CMS changes.

Your Q3 2022 (Apr 1–Jun 30, 2022) PBJ staffing data is due to CMS by 11:59pm ET on Sunday, Aug 14 and should post to Care Compare by the end of September 2022.

July 27, 2022 | 11:30am CT

SimplePBJ will host our quarterly PBJ check-in webinar on July 27. Get the latest updates on the new staffing measures, plus ask your PBJ questions. When you register, include your specific PBJ questions on the form so we can cover them during the live Q&A.