Prior research has found that high nursing staff turnover is associated with lower patient safety culture. Starting in July 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began collecting daily staffing data for US nursing homes and found that nurse turnover rates were correlated with facility location, for-profit status, Medicaid patient census, and star ratings. This information can be leveraged by policymakers, payers, and healthcare consumers and may incentive efforts to reduce nursing staff turnover.

Based on data from the CMS COVID-19 Nursing Home Database, this study found that more than 20% of nursing homes report a severe shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and shortage of staff; rates for staffing and PPE did not improve from May to July of 2020. Nursing homes with COVID-19 cases among residents and staff, and those with lower quality scores, were more likely to report shortages.

… the International Society for Quality in Health Care … Int J Qual Health Care … Safety problems are common in nursing …