Congress: Get LTC Staffing Info Directly from Payroll Systems

The Congressional Seniors Task Force is recommending that federal regulators start collecting nursing home staffing information directly from payroll systems rather than relying on self-reported criteria from facilities.

The recommendation comes in the wake of a New York Times article that criticizes CMS's Five-Star Quality Rating System. Because the Five-Star data is self-reported, the article said, facilities can increase their staff numbers in the weeks before a survey (AKA "staffing up"), leading to artificially inflated figures. The article also noted that staffing data is not routinely audited.

A provision of the Affordable Care Act requires nursing home staffing information to be based on actual payroll data, but this requirement has yet to be implemented despite a March 2012 deadline. The Congressional Seniors Task Force is asking CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to announce when the payroll data collection system will be available. 

To learn more, click here.