In an April 24, 2020 QSO Memo, “Nursing Home Five-Star Quality Rating System Updates, Nursing Home Staff Counts, and Frequently Asked Questions,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that it is using Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data to support the Agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. CMS released a file that includes the average number of staff that each nursing home had on site each day. Specifically:
- Average number of nursing staff and total staff on site each day is provided
- The number of certified beds and average resident census is included
- The information is aggregated on both a state and national level
- The information is based on 2019 Calendar Quarter 4 and not data that reflects current staffing levels in nursing homes
This information, per the QSO Memo, will be used to help CMS and other federal agencies, as well as state and local agencies, with identifying the response needed to prevent and control the transmission of COVID-19 in nursing homes. Specifically, the Memo states that this information could be used to assist with determining which facilities may require which quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE).
View the staffing information file here. You can also review CMS Compliance Group’s other coverage of this memo in this post: CMS Announces Temporary Freeze to Five-Star Quality Rating Domain.
