In September 2023, CMS released QSO-23-21-NH Updates to Nursing Home Care Compare Staffing and Quality Measures. This update included the following changes:
- October 2023, items in the MDS (Section G) were eliminated and replaced by new (Section GG) items. This necessitated changes to the staffing case-mix adjustment method and some of the QMs on Nursing Home Care Compare which used Section G items. Therefore, CMS changed the staffing case-mix adjustment methodology to a model based on the SNF payment Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), which was implemented in 2019.
- April 2024, CMS will freeze (i.e., hold constant) the staffing measures for three months this transition takes place.
- July 2024, CMS will post nursing home staffing measures based on the new PDPM methodology. To minimize the potential disruption associated with the implementation of the new case-mix adjustment methodology, CMS will revise the staffing rating thresholds to maintain the same overall distribution of points for affected staffing measures.
- April 2024, CMS will freeze (hold constant) these following four measures on Nursing Home Compare due to the MDS transition from G-GG.
- Percentage of Residents Who Made Improvements in Function (short stay)
- Percent of Residents Whose Need for Help with Activities of Daily Living Has Increased (long-stay)
- Percent of Residents Whose Ability to Move Independently Worsened (long stay)
- Percent of High-Risk Residents with Pressure Ulcers (long stay) are Compare.
- October 2024, CMS will replace the short-stay functionality quality measure with the new cross-setting functionality quality measure, which is used in the SNF Quality Reporting Program (QRP). The remaining three measures will continue to be frozen until January 2025 while the data for the equivalent measures are collected.