Understanding PBJ and CMS | Complete Payroll

PBJ stands for Payroll Based Journal. It's a type of reporting you must know about, especially if you're a provider of long term care. No worries. We're about to explain it to you and give you a chance to seek some help from an industry expert on all things PBJ CMS. 

 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wants long term care facilities to provide data that's...

• accurate,
• collected more than once per year,
• and able to be audited.

 CMS sees staffing as one of the most vital components of a nursing home's ability to provide quality care. So it's always interested in staffing data so it can more accurately and effectively gauge its impact.

Section 6106 of the Affordable Care Act requires facilities to electronically submit direct care staffing information based on payroll-related data. And CMS wants to use that data to report not only on the staffing levels at each facility, but also on employee tenure and turnover which may impact the quality of care that's being provided.

And that's significantly important for nursing homes and long term care facilities, because CMS is going to analyze these staffing data submissions to make conclusions about the level of care that's being provided. This information will be posted on the CMS Nursing Home Compare website and will be used in the Nursing Home Five Star Quality Rating System. Your facility's ratings are at stake with this new requirement.

If you're skeptical, you can find it right on the CMS website here.

 Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) is the new system required by CMS to regularly collected mandated staffing and census data from all long term nursing facility providers.

Here's what's needed to meet the PBJ CMS requirements...

• Provide a unique ID for each care staff member (no SSNs allowed).
• Provide a complete, accurate record for each facility that identifies its direct care staff.
• Disclose medical personnel as identified by CMS, i.e., RN, PT, LPN, etc.
• Disclose residence census data (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.).
• Provide direct care staff tenure and turnover (start and end dates).
• Disclose hours of care provided by category per direct care staff member, per day.
• Disclose start and end date and the hours worked per individual.

 And all of this new PBJ CMS reporting needs to be in place by July 1, 2016.

Here's the thing... Sometimes explaining complicated rules and regulations brings up more questions than it does answers. And sometimes it's a million times easier just to have a conversation with an expert.

So... If you're a nursing home or a long term care provider or anyone who thinks you or your business might be impacted by this new PBJ CMS requirement, we would encourage you to reach out us.