As of mid-June, the only announcement that CMS has made regarding the 5-Star Rating system is that the Health Inspection rating is being held constant to include only data from surveys that occurred on or before March 3, 2020. Health inspections conducted after March 3, 2020 are publicly posted in a link on the Nursing Home Compare website under the Spotlight section but are not being used in the calculation of the health inspection rating.
The June 5-Star ratings will be posted on the Nursing Home Compare website on or around June 24, 2020. For this update, the health inspection rating will continue to include only health inspections occurring prior to March 4, 2020. The staffing rating will be based on Payroll-based journal (PBJ) staffing date reported for the fourth quarter of 2019 and the quality measure rating will reflect data from quarter 1- quarter 4 of calendar year 2019 for the MDS based measures, which is the data reflected in the current 5-star rating posted on Nursing Home Compare. Providers should not expect to see any changes in their 5-Star rating at the June update, unless a survey that occurred prior to March 3, 2020 was not reflected in their data in the May update.
It is expected that CMS will announce additional changes for the 5-Star rating prior to the July update, as the staffing data for the July update is to include the PBJ staffing data from Jan 1-March 31, 2020, which the requirement to report by the May 15, 2020 deadline was waived due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. CMS stated that it does not yet know the full impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on the quality measure and staffing domains and the rating system but is prepared to make changes when warranted.
