Nursing Home News 2026August14

Kierstin Reed • August 13, 2026

Life Safety Update


State Fire Marshal has provided a memo regarding Personal Electrical Devices in long term care settings under the preview of the Life Safety Code. This memo clarifies that residents will be able to use personal electronics (such as lamps, laptops and phone chargers) within six feet of the bed without being in violation of Section 10.4.2.2 of the Life Safety Code. These devices no longer require a three-prong or double insulated designation. Facilities must conduct an annual visual inspection and document that devices are in proper working order and are not in need of repair. An inspection must also be conducted when a resident moves in or moves to a new room within the facility. These devices can be plugged directly into the wall or into an approved power tap (60601-1 or 1363A). Extension cords and unapproved power strips should still be avoided. We appreciate the continued follow up on this concern and the willingness of the Fire Marshal to update the understanding of the use of personal electronics in long-term care settings. 



New SNF Reports Now Available in LeadingAge Report Portal.



New Five-Star Reports are now available for nursing home members in the LeadingAge Report Portal. These reports are based on the July 29 update to Nursing Home Care Compare data and include changes to all three domains – Health Inspections, Staffing, and Quality Measures – as well as the overall Five-Star rating. Of note, there is a change this quarter to ratings thresholds for the Quality Measures domain; this change may impact members’ Quality Measures domain ratings. This change is based on a 2019 policy that states that ratings thresholds will be updated at half the rate of the previous time period’s improvement.
Read more on this policy here. Based on this policy, nursing homes can expect another update to quality measures ratings thresholds with the January 2027 quarterly refresh if performance continues to improve. LeadingAge members can access their reports on the LeadingAge Report Portal. The next quarterly refresh of the Five-Star Quality Rating System will occur on October 28.



PBJ Reporting Due August 14; Last Submission to QIES


Nursing homes must submit Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data for Fiscal Year 2026 Quarter 3 by August 14. As noted in a July 14 memo from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Fiscal Quarter 3 will be the last quarter for which nursing homes submit PBJ data through QIES. Beginning on August 17, 2026 for Fiscal Quarter 4, nursing homes will submit all data through iQIES. Remember that no data submitted after the August 14 reporting deadline will be accepted for calculating quality measures for the Five Star Quality Rating System and the Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP). Nursing homes should submit in advance of the August 14 deadline and run applicable reports through QIES/CASPER to ensure that data has been received and appears as the nursing home expects. CMS memo QSO-26-12-NH provides information on how these reports will be run in iQIES following the August 17 transition. 

 

Here is your NATIONAL Nursing Home Weekly Recap

By Kierstin Reed August 13, 2026
LeadingAge Webinar on Tenant Compliance Must-Dos for Affordable Senior Housing, August 19, 2-3:15 p.m. ET. Join the LeadingAge housing community for a webinar by compliance expert Jenny DeSilva, who will review unique rules and requirements for HUD-assisted senior housing communities. Participants will receive practical guidance to stay prepared for HUD oversight while supporting older adults as they age in community. Register here . Affordable housing Weekly Recap . Here is your weekly Affordable Housing Weekly Recap
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New Guidance from IRS on No Tax on Overtime Last week, the Internal Revenue Service issued updated FAQs on the No Tax on Overtime provision under HR 1, which added a new tax deduction for qualified overtime compensation. The deduction allows individuals to deduct up to $12,500 of qualified overtime pay annually ($25,000 in the case of a joint return) but may be reduced if a taxpayer's modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) exceeds $150,000 ($300,000 for joint filers). Developed in coordination with the Department of Labor and Office of Personnel Management, the updated FAQs replace previous FAQs issued in January 2026 and provide more extensive guidance on overtime eligibility and exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, reporting qualified overtime compensation, and federal income tax withholdings from wages. The FAQs also include a guidance for employers on calculating qualified overtime compensation to be paid to an employee for purposes of the deduction. This includes instructions for alternative methods of computation are used to compute overtime, which may apply to employees of certain residential care facilities. Here is your weekly Workforce Weekly Recap
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Proposed Rule Rolls Back Community Reinvestment Act Obligations. Of great concern to LeadingAge and others interested in expanding and preserving the nation’s supply of affordable housing, the Department of Treasury, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) posted a joint rulemaking on July 31, 2026, amending the regulations implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) that could weaken investment in affordable housing and community development. The CRA was enacted in 1977 and requires federal banking regulators to encourage financial institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they do business, including in low and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods. In particular, a financial institution’s record of meeting the credit needs of its entire community is taken into account by federal regulators when evaluating the financial institution’s application for a deposit facility. Among the changes that the rule proposes for evaluating whether a financial institution is meeting its CRA requirements are: restricting the large bank service test to a bank’s “credit services” – i.e., lending – rather than deposit services; imposing a 15% cap on indirect costs that recipients of community development grants at large banks may incur; recalibrating asset thresholds for small, immediate, and large banks; and tailoring retail lending tests to focus only on a bank’s major product line(s). In particular, the recalibration of asset thresholds would likely reduce the number of banks incentivized to make loans and investments in affordable housing and community development, such as investing in the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). LeadingAge is concerned that this rule would further limit opportunities for affordable housing for older adults, and we will continue to work with our housing partners to coordinate a response in opposing this rule. While this rule has yet to be published in the Federal Register, there will be a 60 day comment period from the date of publication.
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Senators Introduce Older Adult Home Modification Tax Credit Bill
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