In a Quality, Safety, and Oversight (QSO) memo released on Sept. 20, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) stated they will update the staffing level case-mix adjustment methodology and replace some of the Quality Measures (QMs) used on Nursing Home Care Compare in order to accommodate changes …
On Sept. 18, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added a note within the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 PDPM ICD-10 Mapping file that effectively removed several diagnosis codes from impacting the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) component for comorbidities. CMS had previously added several Parkinson’s disease-related conditions, which mapped …
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will change the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) surveillance definition of “up to date” for reporting weeks beginning on Sept. 25, 2023, to align with new (pending) ACIP recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines. Once the new vaccine and new (pending) vaccination recommendations are applied …
In late August, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the post-event question and answer (Q&A) document from the SNF MDS 3.0 RAI v1.18.11 Guidance Training Program available in the Downloads section of the SNF QRP Training webpage. This 62-page document contains responses to questions asked throughout the …
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new resources on enhanced barrier precautions (EBPs). EBPs are recommended by the CDC to reduce the risk of transmission of multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs). These resources can assist the director of nursing services (DNS) and the infection preventionist to educate …
The August 2023 Performance Score Reports for the FY 2024 Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Program are now available for download via the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES). Instructions to access these reports are available on the SNF VBP webpage. These reports contain performance information for …
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added administrator exclusion criteria to the PBJ public use files. The updated criteria excludes administrator data if a nursing home reports five or more administrators on four or more days during one quarter. This was applied to both the administrator turnover measure …
Effective with the July 2023 Five-Star refresh, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revised the nursing-home level exclusion criteria on an erroneously high number of administrators applied to the administrator turnover measure. Previously, if a nursing home submitted Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data and reported administrator hours (PBJ job …
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the revised ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes for fiscal year 2024, which will become effective Oct. 1, 2023. Facility staff will need to review diagnosis codes for residents who reside in the facility through Oct. 1 to convert existing codes to the updated …
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a new Quality in Focus Series. The series includes a number of 10–15-minute videos that aim to reduce the deficiencies most commonly cited during survey. This series helps the learner to: To access this series, see the Quality, Safety, & …
