Nursing Home News 2026June5

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 May 27 update to Nursing Home Care Compare. As this is only a monthly update, rather than a quarterly refresh, providers may see a change in their Health Inspection scores but Staffing and Quality Measures will not change. 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 July 29.

Observation Stays Bill Introduced in Senate.

Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced legislation on May 22 to protect seniors from the high costs of post-acute care. S 4641 would require that all days spent in the hospital, regardless of inpatient or outpatient observation status would count toward the three-day qualifying stay required for skilled nursing facility (SNF) services under Medicare fee-for-service. This bipartisan bill joins the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act (HR 3954) that was introduced by Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT) in June 2025. LeadingAge has supported the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act and is pleased to see the introduction of the Senate bill. We continue to work with coalition partners to help advance this legislation.

LeadingAge Comments on FY 2027 SNF PPS Rule.

LeadingAge submitted comments on June 1 on the Fiscal Year 2027 Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) proposed rule. In comments, LeadingAge supports updates to the SNF Quality Reporting Program including removal of two COVID-19 vaccination measures from the program, the revision of data submission timelines, and expansion of the data pool to include all SNF patients regardless of payer source. Acknowledging the potential for administrative burden added by this proposal, LeadingAge encouraged CMS to work with other payers to adopt a single assessment, such as the MDS, to be used for all billing and coverage determinations across payers. LeadingAge also provided feedback to CMS on considerations for future development of a SNF-specific wage index and responded to a request for information on the patient-driven payment model. In response to this request, LeadingAge advocated against any future implementation of adjustment factors to address what CMS has coined “case-mix creep”, pointing out that what CMS is observing is more likely improved accuracy in assessment and coding of patient conditions and providers should not be paid less for providing care simply to establish budget neutrality. Read LeadingAge’s comments here.

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