PBJ Submission Deadline is May 15th
As of late April, nursing home 5-Star staffing ratings as well as staffing information displayed on Nursing Home Compare are based on data submitted through the Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) system. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expects to refresh the information each quarter based on provider submissions that are due 45 days after the end of a quarter. The deadline for submitting data covering the timeframe January – March 2018 is May 15th. Due to past submission system slowdowns at the due date, CMS recommends that homes upload the data at their earliest convenience.
Along with the public display of PBJ data, CMS has begun audits that can result in providers being assigned a single star for staffing if they fail to report accurately. This would also reduce the composite 5-Star score by one star. The single star would be assigned in situations where a home:
- is found to have "significant inaccuracies" (i.e., large enough to change the star rating) between submitted and verified hours;
- fails to submit data by the deadline;
- does not respond, or provides inadequate information, in response to an audit request; or
- after July 2018, fails to meet the requirement to have an RN onsite for at least eight consecutive hours, seven days per week (prior to July 2018, homes failing to meet the requirement will be flagged on the Nursing Home Compare website).
Based on their observation of common PBJ errors from preliminary audits, CMS recommends that homes pay special attention to the following issues:
- exclude meal break time (paid or unpaid) when reporting hours;
- ensure each employee has their own unique identifier;
- complete and transmit MDS assessments, including discharge assessments, in a timely manner;
- respond to audit notices promptly; and
- note that multi-service organizations should exclude staff hours dedicated to serving anyone other than nursing home residents.
The latest version of the PBJ manual and other resources are posted here, the CMS letter to survey agencies is here, and the updated 5-Star Technical User’s Guide is here. LeadingAge is presenting an audio conference on May 9th on the implications of the shift to PBJ data. Information is available here.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841