HHS’ Office of Inspector General is investigating the enforcement of staffing standards at skilled nursing facilities, according to a Kaiser Health News report. Six things to know:
- The OIG’s investigation began earlier this month. It comes after a KHN and New York Timesprobe indicated some nursing homes are not meeting Medicare staffing requirements, according to the report.
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The KHN and New York Times probe showed nearly 1,400 of the nation’s nursing homes — or 1 in 11 — have received lower Medicare star ratings for inadequate staffing levels.
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The OIG said it would examine CMS oversight of nursing facility staffing levels.
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The OIG said: “We will examine nursing staffing levels reported by facilities to the Payroll-Based Journal and CMS’ efforts to ensure data accuracy and improve resident quality of care by both enforcing minimum requirements and incentivizing high-quality staffing above minimum requirements.”
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A report with the OIG’s findings is expected to be released in the federal fiscal year that begins in October 2019.
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CMS declined to comment to KHN about the new probe.
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