The following is an alert for the Q2 2021 staffing report. To access the report, click here.

November 16, 2021 – Nursing homes with higher staffing levels are better equipped to meet their residents’ care needs. Unfortunately, understaffing has been a widespread and persistent problem, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, LTCCC announces the publication of the latest staffing data for every U.S. nursing home (in compliance with mandatory reporting requirements) during the second quarter of 2021. The federal data show that far too many nursing homes are not providing sufficient staff to meet the clinical, emotional, and psychosocial needs of their residents, as required by federal law. Nationwide, nursing homes averaged 3.75 Total Nurse Staff hours per resident day (HPRD), including 0.66 Total RN HPRD, in Q2 2021, down nearly 5% from the previous quarter and falling below the minimum staffing threshold (4.10 total care staff HPRD, 0.75 RN HPRD) indicated by a landmark 2001 federal study.

Our findings show that, even when accounting for nurse administrative staff (RN Admin, RN DON, LPN Admin), most nursing homes (68.8%) failed to meet the 4.10 threshold.

LTCCC’s Q2 2021 staffing report provides user-friendly files for every state that include: 1) Staffing levels of nurse staff; 2) Staffing levels for important non-nursing staff, including administrators and activities staff; and 3) Data indicating the extent to which facilities rely on contract workers. 4) State, CMS region, and national staffing levels. The report also features interactive Tableau maps and tables.

Staffing Facts for Q2 2021

  • Less than a third (31.2%) of U.S. nursing homes met the total care staff threshold (4.10 HPRD) as determined by the landmark federal study.
  • Total Nurse Staff HPRD (3.75) dropped 4.5% from Q1 2021 (3.92) while Total RN Staff HPRD dropped 5.0% (from 0.69). The trend was consistent across the country as staffing levels declined in all 10 CMS Regional Locations.
  • Total Direct Care Staff HPRD (which excludes RN/LPN Admin and RN DON) dropped to 3.46 from 3.62 in Q1; RN Care Staff HPRD (excluding RN Admin & DON) dropped to 0.44 from 0.47 in Q1.
  • Contract staff accounted for 5.75% of all nurse staff hours in Q2 2021 after accounting for 5.02% of nurse hours in the previous quarter.
  • Average total resident census (1.1 million) increased by 29,000 from Q1 2021 despite a slight decrease in total number of facilities reporting PBJ data (14,812, down from 14,857).

LTCCC’s Q2 2021 report can help the public, media, and policymakers identify and assess the extent to which nursing homes in their communities provided sufficient staffing to meet basic clinical and quality of life needs. The report is based on the most recent payroll-based journal (PBJ) data reported by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). (See: PBJ Daily Nurse Staffing and PBJ Daily Non-Nurse Staffing). Visit the NursingHome411 Data Center for more information on staffing, five-star ratings, and other important nursing home data.