News for MDS Experts

The Five-Star rating preview reports for nursing homes will be available in iQIES on December 1, 2025. Nursing Home Care Compare will update with the November/December Five-Star data on or around December 10, 2025.
cstu.io/281a55
Important Note: The Five-Star Helpline (800-839-9290) will be available December 1-5, 2025. For assistance logging into iQIES, please contact the iQIES Service Center via email (iQIES@cms.hhs.gov) or by phone (800-339-9313).
cstu.io/97ff72 ... See MoreSee Less

The December 2025 Quarterly Confidential Feedback Reports for the fiscal year (FY) 2027 Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Program are now available to download via the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES).
These results will be used for the FY 2027 SNF VBP Program year scoring and incentive payment calculations that will take effect October 1, 2026. The data and results for the performance period for the FY 2027 SNF VBP Program year will be disseminated in the June 2026 Quarterly Confidential Feedback Reports. 𝙎𝙉𝙁𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙢𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙨 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙤 𝟯𝟬 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚, 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙅𝙖𝙣𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲.https://cstu.io/e895a5 ... See MoreSee Less

🚨The Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 Quality Measures (QM) User's Manual v18.0 and accompanying Risk Adjustment Appendix File are now available. The MDS 3.0 QM User’s Manual V18.0 will be effective beginning January 1, 2026, and contains detailed specifications for the MDS 3.0 QMs. A Notable Changes section in the document summarizes the major changes from the MDS 3.0 QM User’s Manual V17.0. The Risk Adjustment Appendix File is a reference to be used in conjunction with the MDS 3.0 Quality Measures User’s Manual v18.0 and contains coefficient values used to calculate the risk-adjusted quality measures. The latest coefficient values in this appendix file reflect, where applicable, updates to the measure specifications for the risk-adjusted NHQI measures, effective January 1, 2026.
cstu.io/29c7ab ... See MoreSee Less

On November 12, 2025, Congress enacted Public Law 119-37, providing for a continuing appropriation until January 30, 2026, with retroactive authority back to October 1, 2025. Attached are responses to questions we received from States and providers with regard to the manner in which survey, enforcement & certification activities should accommodate the effects of the federal government shutdown that occurred from October 1, 2025, through November 12, 2025. cstu.io/7138cc ... See MoreSee Less

📢Register for SOPS Nursing Home Survey Version 2.0: Updates, Insights, and Implementation
This one-hour webcast will introduce Version 2.0 of the Surveys on Patient Safety Culture® (SOPS®) Nursing Home Survey, highlighting key improvements and results from a pilot test with 27 nursing homes. Key improvements include a shortened and more focused survey. Speakers from AMI Expeditionary Healthcare will describe their first-hand experience using the new survey in a field test. They will discuss how they achieved greater than 50 percent response rates in eight nursing homes in Pennsylvania and how they are reviewing the results and preparing action plans for the participating nursing homes. cma.ahrq.gov/cma/registration.jsp;jsessionid=emLVvsd8d2ulTuipWVm4BxogOQn4spOIhSG96QQY7uLCk8ILR_CD... ... See MoreSee Less

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the official Technical Specification Report for the Falls with Major Injury (FMI) measure. This report incorporates feedback received during the cross-setting Technical Expert Panel (TEP) held on May 12 and 14, 2025. The report provides an overview of the measure, a high-level summary of the key features of the re-specified measure, a description of the methodology used to construct the FMI measure, and an overview of measure testing results. Additional guidance and related updates to the Quality Measure Calculations and Reporting User’s Manual and public reporting timelines will be provided at a future date. cstu.io/0e0157
cstu.io/f90121 ... See MoreSee Less

Friday is a great day to ask:
Are our nursing home Quality Measures telling the story we want?

One small improvement in documentation or coding this week can move the needle on quality next week.

#nursinghomequality #QualityMeasures #LongTermCare #friday ... See MoreSee Less

Grateful today—and every day—for the nursing home teams who show up with skill, heart, and resilience. 🧡

To the MDS coordinators, nurses, CNAs, administrators, therapists, and everyone behind the scenes: the work you do doesn’t just complete tasks, it changes lives.

From all of us at MDS Consultants, Happy Thanksgiving. 🦃

#Thanksgiving #NursingHomeQuality #LongTermCare #Gratitude #MDSConsultants ... See MoreSee Less