Sometimes when a friend walks up to you and frames what they are about to say with, “please keep this confidential”, one of two reactions typically occurs. You might say, “please tell me all the juicy details.” Or you might say, “Stop, I don’t really want to know.”
Sometimes CMS releases confidential information that may elicit both responses at the same time.
Just Released
On Thursday, 3/27, CMS posted the March 2025 Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Quarterly Confidential Feedback Reports in IQIES. These reports contain interim performance period (October 1, 2023–June 30, 2024) stay-level data for the Skilled Nursing Facility 30-Day All-Cause Readmission Measure (SNFRM) only.
If you have been following the SNF VBP data regularly you have become familiar with these confidential feedback reports and have probably responded both ways.
These reports have always been meant for providers to review the data for opportunities to work with CMS to correct errors so that a facilities value-based incentive multiplier is an accurate representation of their rehospitalization quality metric.
Lots more to come
As you may be aware, in future years, the SNF VBP incentive multiplier, the number that determines how much of the SNF VBP withhold your facility will be paid back, will be calculated differently.
Starting in FY 2026 the incentive multiplier will be calculated using four quality measures instead of just one. In FY 2027, there will be eight. Table 31 in the FY 2024 final rule shows the detail.
With the release of the confidential feedback reports last week, I immediately wondered why data related to the additional measures were not included.
After all, CMS posted early look feedback reports last year to give us an idea about how they would look.
So, I asked.
It turns out that all measure performance information (including for the Nursing Staff Turnover, SNF HAI, and Total Nurse Staffing measures) for the full performance period for the FY 2026 SNF VBP Program Year will be disseminated in the June 2025 Quarterly Reports.
So, what now?
So, we eagerly await the June reports.
In the meantime, it would be a good idea to take a look at the early look reports that CMS posted in IQIES last April. These will give you a good idea for what to expect and how to prepare for this seismic shift.
When you apply what you learn to the June reports you may say, “Please tell me all the juicy details!” Or you may say, “Stop, I don’t really want to know.”
Confidentially, I suggest taking advantage of the opportunity to understand these new dynamics. You will be well served when you meet your new incentive multiplier this fall.
