MDS Alert

Find out what reports you can access before mandatory reporting begins.

The Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) system for submitting staffing and census data is currently in a voluntary period, which means that you can test this process before it becomes mandatory on July 1, 2016. With your quality of care ratings at stake, you can’t afford not to ensure that your payroll system works properly with the PBJ system.

Get a Head Start to Prevent Future Reporting Problems

On Oct. 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) opened registration for voluntary participation in the electronic submission of payroll data via the new PBJ system. This voluntary period — from Oct. 1, 2015 until July 1, 2016 — “is the ONLY time that providers will have the opportunity to ‘test’ the process and determine how their payroll system interfaces with the PBJ,” stressed Lyn Bentley and Urvi Patel in a Nov. 23 blog posting for the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL).

What’s more: AHCA/NCAL believes that CMS is unlikely to make any significant changes to the data submission process nor the PBJ system, so you might as well get some practice submitting your data during this voluntary period, Bentley and Patel noted.

The PBJ system arose from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) mandates that skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) electronically submit direct-care staffing information, including agency and contract staff, based on payroll and other auditable data, according to Christine Twombly of Harmony Healthcare International.

“When combined with census information, this data can then be used to not only report on the level of staff in each nursing home, but also to report on employee turnover and tenure, which can impact the quality of care delivered, Twombly said in a Nov. 17 analysis. Mandatory reporting, which will begin on July 1, 2016, will require SNFs to file both staffing and census data no later than 45 days after the last day of each fiscal quarter.

Example: You must submit the electronic reporting data for the quarter ending on June 30, 2016 no later than 11:59 pm EST on Aug. 14, 2016, Twombly explained.

Also, CMS will still require you to submit Forms CMS 671 and CMS 672 at the time of survey, even after the required PBJ submission process begins, according to Bentley and Patel. CMS will use the data from these forms in calculating the Staffing domain of the Five-Star Rating System until late 2017 or early 2018.

Take 5 Steps to Test the PBJ System

If you haven’t already, register for the voluntary submission of your payroll based data. To do so, Twombly advised taking the following steps:

1. View the PBJ Training Modules at www.qtso.com/webex/qiesclasses.php (select the PBJ option) for an introduction to the PBJ system and step-by-step registration instructions.

2. Obtain a CMSNet User ID for PBJ Individual, Corporate and Third Party users at www.qtso.com/cmsnet.html (if you don’t already have one for other QIES applications).

3. Use the current form-based process to register for a QIES ID, if you’re registering as a PBJ Corporate or Third Party user. Access registration forms under the Access Request Information/Forms section on the right side of the webpage: www.qtso.com.

4. Access the CASPER Reporting and PBJ systems, which became available on Oct. 1. You may submit XML files or manually enter staffing and census data for work performed on or after Oct. 1, 2015 at https://mds.qiesnet.org/mds_home.html.

5. You can access the following reports during the voluntary period:

a. CASPER Report 1700D — Employee Report (provides employee information in three versions: Active, Terminated, and Both);

b. CASPER Report 1701D — Census Report (provides facility census information, reported monthly);

c. CASPER Report 1702S — Staffing Data Summary Report (provides facility staffing information by job title);

d. PBJ Final File Validation Report (auto-generated — provides a summary of submission information with three sections for each submission: Employee, Staffing, and Census; also has a status of either Accepted or Rejected); and

e. PBJ Submitter Final File Validation Report (auto-generated — provides a summary of submission information for Third Party/Corporate users).

Resource: You can also stay current on PBJ-related updates and news by visiting CMS’s Staffing Data Submission — PBJ website at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/NursingHomeQualityInits/Staffing-Data-Submission-PBJ.html .