Nursing Home Staffing Challenges Not Abating
(Aug. 6, 2024) New nursing home staffing data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicates that NY's nursing homes continue to struggle to meet State staffing standards. The latest Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data indicate that fewer homes in the state were able to meet all three of the State’s staffing requirements in the first quarter of 2024 than during the previous one. Statewide, 72 percent of the state’s 600 homes missed at least one of the requirements during the January through March 2024 timeframe, up from 69 percent in the prior quarter. This despite the fact that the median hours per resident day staffing figure inched up from 3.30 to 3.32 during that time.
Regional and sponsorship dynamics remained fairly constant, with the largest proportion of homes hitting the standard in the Rochester region (39 percent) and the fewest achieving compliance in NYC (23 percent). Notably, while remaining the most successful region in the state, the proportion of homes meeting the standard in Rochester dropped from 44 percent in the prior quarter, while the proportion in NYC dropped from 26 percent. The Albany region saw the greatest quarter-to-quarter improvement, moving from 18 percent to 25 percent of facilities in compliance. When arrayed by sponsorship, 18 percent of for-profit homes and 44 percent of non-profit homes statewide met all three standards.
Members will be able to access the updated Q1 2024 PBJ staffing compliance tool that calculates a facility’s staffing for each day of the quarter and compares it to the State’s staffing requirements later this week. It will be available for download here on Thurs., Aug. 8th.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841