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Off-Site Staffing Reminders
Recent discussion has bubbled up around the use of off-site staff in nursing homes, such as off-site Minimum Data Set (MDS) coordinators. A recent update to the Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) Policy Manual and FAQs clarified that only hours worked on-site are permitted to be recorded in PBJ. While off-site staff may be used for administrative tasks, these hours may not be recorded, even for nurses with administrative duties. Also recall that while off-site nurses may perform coding and transmitting of MDS data, nursing homes must continue to meet assessment requirements, which include direct observation and communication with residents and collaboration with the inter-disciplinary team. Additionally, any off-site staff performing duties for the nursing home must be licensed to practice in the state in which the nursing home is located. This means that off-site MDS coordinators must be licensed in the state(s) of all nursing homes for which they are coding and transmitting data. Questions about MDS tasks and scope of practice should be referred to the state Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) contact.
CMS to Freeze Nursing Home Care Compare Until October
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on August 15 that they will be freezing Nursing Home Care Compare, including star ratings and monthly updates to health inspections, until October 2025. The freeze comes after successful transition of all nursing home survey and certification data infrastructure to the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) and CMS is implementing this temporary pause on Nursing Home Care Compare updates to allow CMS to validate data integrity and ensure that publicly reported information will meet quality standards going forward. CMS reminds nursing homes that they continue to be required to display most recent survey findings in a publicly accessible area of the nursing home and members of the public may request federal agency records including CMS inspection documents and related compliance materials. Updates to Nursing Home Care Compare will resume with the regularly scheduled quarterly refresh on October 29, 2025.
Trump Administration Plan to Transform Workforce Development
The Trump administration revealed this week its plan to overhaul the federal government’s approach to workforce development. The report—drafted jointly by the Departments of Labor, Commerce and Education—outlines a comprehensive vision for transforming the U.S. workforce system to better align with industry needs and national economic priorities. Although not drafted with the aging services or broader health care sector as a central focus, the strategy could nonetheless present meaningful opportunities for engagement. For a more complete summary of the strategy, see this LeadingAge article.
Department of Labor Proposed Rule on Restoring Overtime Exemptions
The Department of Labor has a rule out for comment, that LeadingAge is commenting on, on rescinding current wage and overtime protections. An article with more details on the rule and the history of these exemptions can be found here.
