DOH Distributes Nursing Home Staffing Compliance Notices for Q2 of 2022
Most nursing home providers have another time-consuming administrative task on their plate after last week’s distribution of staffing compliance notices. On Aug. 3rd, the Department of Health (DOH) posted letters on the Health Commerce System (HCS) informing each home whether they were deemed to be in compliance with State staffing requirements during the second quarter of 2022 (i.e., April through June). For homes out of compliance, the notice provides the facility’s average hours per resident day for the quarter for each of the three regulatory requirements: total nurse staffing, licensed staff (Registered Nurse (RN)/Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)), and Aide staffing (Certified Nurse Aide (CNA)/Temporary Nurse Aide (TNA)). The notice also includes a listing of each day of the quarter that the facility failed to meet staffing levels. Providers have until Aug. 17th (10 business days) to request a redetermination or submit a penalty reduction application. All this despite the Health Commissioner’s determination of an acute labor supply shortage in all regions of the state during 2022.
Redetermination: We recommend that members validate the State’s calculations and submit a redetermination request accompanied by the “Employee Detail Attachment” correction template if they believe that the Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data used by DOH misrepresents the facility’s actual staffing during the quarter. Because penalties are progressive, and because DOH has the discretion to mitigate penalties, members may want to submit a redetermination request to correct any erroneous data even if that correction does not result in compliance.
Penalty Reduction Application: Homes facing penalties should consider submitting a penalty reduction application that is comprised of three schedules. Note that the application allows for some general narrative followed by 18 specified staff recruitment/retention strategies, each of which requires documentation. Both the redetermination request and penalty reduction application need to be submitted electronically. Screenshots of the penalty application schedules are available here for those who may want to prepare the submission in advance of entering it online.
Resources: LeadingAge NY held a webinar for members on Aug. 4th to review the processes for submitting corrections and/or requesting mitigation of penalties. The session reviewed the State’s compliance calculations and the distribution of notices and provided an overview of the correction and mitigation process spotlighting important considerations and providing recommendations for completing the application. An archived version of the session is available to members here. The slides from the presentation, which also contain links to the key materials, are here.
The DOH nursing home minimum staffing page is here. For additional background, members may want to refer to the DOH Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) here and LeadingAge NY Intelligence articles here and here.
Please reach out if you have questions, are unable to access the compliance notice, identify calculation discrepancies, or experience difficulty in submitting reconsideration or mitigation requests. Note that homes in compliance received a notice indicating such; those notices contain no quarterly calculations.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, or Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org