Employee retention is a key concern for the nation’s nursing homes and the federal government has a new smattering of offerings in the works to help providers in that struggle.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Thursday that it is releasing two toolkits in the near future tied to employee satisfaction. They’re part of the agency’s Civil Monetary Penalty Reinvestment Program announcement last week, which is using fines paid by nursing facilities to improve care delivery and residents’ quality of life.
CMS’ second toolkit — after last week’s on staff competency — will be an employee satisfaction survey, aimed at helping providers with recruiting, motivating and retaining staff. The free and anonymous survey will be available both in paper and digital forms, and lets SNF workers share their thoughts on employee engagement, job satisfaction, scheduling and training. Managers also will receive an instructional manual and strategic guide from CMS on how to implement the survey.
A third toolkit will advise nursing home leaders on how to improve employee satisfaction after completing the survey.
“There are a lot of resources out there to help nursing facilities improve quality, but it can be overwhelming to identify which are most relevant to your facility’s specific needs,” the agency noted on its webpage. “This employee satisfaction guide helps nursing homes determine the most appropriate and helpful resources to address challenges.”
A CMS spokeswoman on Thursday declined to specify when the toolkits will be released. Questions about the Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program can be directed to [email protected].
