News for MDS Experts

🚨Effective November 20, 2025, the October 2025 refresh of the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) data is now available on the compare tool on Medicare.gov and Provider Data Catalog (PDC).
The October 2025 refresh includes the initial public reporting of three new assessment-based measures: Transfer of Health (TOH) Information to the Provider – Post-Acute Care (PAC), Transfer of Health (TOH) Information to the Patient – Post-Acute Care (PAC), and COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients/Residents Who Are Up to Date.
The October refresh includes:
Assessment-based measures reflecting data submitted by SNFs to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from Quarter 1, 2024 through Quarter 4, 2024.
The Influenza Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel measure reflecting data from Quarter 4, 2024 through Quarter 1, 2025.
The CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among Healthcare Personnel (HCP) measure and COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients/Residents Who Are Up to Date measure reflecting data from Quarter 4, 2024.
The Potentially Preventable 30-Day Post-Discharge Readmission and Discharge to Community claims-based measures reflect data from Quarter 4, 2022 through Quarter 3, 2024. The Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary claims-based measure is based on data from Quarter 4, 2021 through Quarter 3, 2023 and will be refreshed in January 2026.
The SNF Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) measure reflects data from Quarter 4, 2023 through Quarter 3, 2024. ... See MoreSee Less

CMS released an update that applies to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2028 Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Program performance standards for the 𝙉𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝟭,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨 (𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙃𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣) 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the FY 2026 SNF Prospective Payment System (PPS) Final Rule on August 4, 2025. This does not affect the current FY 2026 SNF VBP Program scoring and incentive payments, nor does it affect prior FYs. SNFs do not need to do anything at this time, or in the future. For the FY 2028 SNF VBP Program year, the baseline period is FY 2024, and the performance period is FY 2026 for the Long Stay Hospitalization measure.
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Regulators and policymakers have raised concerns about the relationship between changes in nursing home ownership and low-quality care, which can endanger resident health and safety. CMS requires nursing homes to submit updated information within 30 days of a change in ownership. This study will evaluate the extent to which CMS and State survey agencies take actions to identify and respond to declines in nursing home quality related to changes in ownership.
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🚨The SNF Provider Preview Reports have been updated and are now available. These reports contain provider performance scores for quality measures, which will be published on the compare tool on cstu.io/b08db9 and the Provider Data Catalog (PDC) during the January 2026 release.
Data contained within the Provider Preview Reports are based on quality assessment data submitted by SNFs from Quarter 2, 2024 through Quarter 1, 2025.
The COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients/Residents Who Are Up to Date measure and CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among Healthcare Personnel (HCP) measure reflect data from Quarter 1, 2025.
The Influenza Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel measure from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reflect data from Quarter 4, 2024 through Quarter 1, 2025.
The claims-based measures are based on data from Quarter 4, 2022 through Quarter 3, 2024.
The SNF Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) measure reflect data from Quarter 4, 2023 through Quarter 3, 2024.
𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝟭𝟳, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱, 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙖.
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Happy Friday, LTC friends 💛

Long week? Same here. Thanks for showing up for residents and for each other. Be gentle with your shoulders, your feet, and your inbox tonight.

Rest is part of good care.

See you Monday.

#longtermcare #SNF #MDS #Rai #nurselife #teamwork ... See MoreSee Less

📢𝗜𝗖𝗬𝗠𝗜: The OIG (Office of Inspector General) released CMS’s Special Focus Facility Program for Nursing Homes Has Not Yielded Lasting Improvements Report on 10/29/2025. The OIG found "The SFF program is not working because most nursing homes that graduate from the program do not keep the improvements they made over the long term. Between 2013 and 2022, nearly two-thirds of the nursing homes that were in the SFF program improved enough to graduate but soon afterward showed the type of quality problems that put them in the SFF program in the first place."
𝗢𝗜𝗚 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀:
1. Impose more nonfinancial enforcement remedies that encourage sustained compliance
2. Assess the extent to which it took enhanced enforcement actions for SFF graduates and the effectiveness of those actions, particularly for graduates that received a deficiency for staffing
3. Incorporate nursing home ownership information into the SFF program, such as in selecting SFFs and identifying patterns of poor performance
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