Five-Star and Care Compare MDS 3.0 Quality Measure Data Periods

Care Compare refreshes MDS 3.0 Quality Measure (QM) data quarterly in January, April, July, and October with the most recent four full quarters of data. AAPACN’s Five-Star and Care Compare MDS 3.0 Quality Measure Data Periods tools identify exactly which quarters will be publicly reported and used in Five-Star with …

Sepsis Primer: What Is It, and How Does It Tie Into Survey and QMs?

Sepsis—a key driver of hospital readmissions—can have negative clinical impacts for residents and negative financial, quality, survey, and even legal impacts for nursing homes. Here is a review of important basics: What is sepsis? The current clinical definition of sepsis is “life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response …

At-a-Glance QM, QRP, and VBP Tool

With so many Quality Measures originating from three different payment initiative programs, it’s a lot to keep track of. AAPACN’s At-a-Glance QM, QRP, and VBP tool organizes all of the measures for you. This tool has been updated with the MDS 3.0 Quality Measures User’s Manual Version 17.0 (January 2025), the Five-Star …

Updated Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027 SNF VBP Performance Standards

This communication pertains to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 and FY 2027 Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Program performance standards for the Total Nursing Staff Turnover (Nursing Staff Turnover) measure which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the FY 2024 SNF Prospective Payment System (PPS) …

Conduct a Comprehensive Systems Review to Improve Quality Measure Outcomes

In this podcast, Amy Stewart, MSN, RN, DNS-MT, QCP-MT, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, chief nursing officer for AAPACN, and Denise Winzeler, BSN, RN, LNHA, DNS-MT, QCP-MT, curriculum development specialist for AAPACN, discuss how a comprehensive review of whole systems can help to improve Quality Measure outcomes in skilled nursing facilities and how …

Quality Measures: Fundamentals of Exclusions

In this podcast, Amy Stewart, MSN, RN, DNS-MT, QCP-MT, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, chief nursing officer for AAPACN, and Jessie McGill, RN, BSN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, curriculum development specialist for AAPACN, discuss Quality Measures and some fundamentals about exclusions. Additional Resources:

Quality Measure IQ Series: Discharge Function Score Measure

The newest section GG Quality Measure (QM), the Discharge Function Score, has left many nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) with more questions than answers about how it is calculated. This measure estimates the percentage of Medicare Part A skilled nursing facility (SNF) stays that meet or exceed an expected Discharge Function …

From Data Elements to Quality Measures: CMS Training

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is offering a web-based training course that provides a high-level overview of how data elements within CMS patient/resident assessment instruments are used to construct quality measures (QMs) across post-acute care (PAC) settings. The course also discusses the relationship between these data elements …

Section GG Web-based Training Series From CMS

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is offering an updated series of web-based training courses that provide an overview of the assessment and guidance to promote accurate coding of the post-acute care (PAC) cross-setting Section GG data elements. Each course contains interactive exercises to test your understanding. To …