Payroll Based Journal (PBJ)

The Affordable Care Act requires CMS to collect electronic submission of payroll data from nursing centers. The Act requires this data to be auditable and verifiable. The information is intended to collect direct care staff (employed and contracted), employee turnover and tenure, and must include census data and case mix.

CMS developed the Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) to collect this data. The first mandatory reporting period began July 1, 2016. More information on PBJ and the manual can be found here. CMS has stated it will release risk adjusted measures on the average hours per resident day by nursing job categories this spring. CMS will also incorporate these measures into your Five-Star Ratings. The exact date of release is not yet known nor it is known when or if there will be a preview period for SNFs.Important information from CMS about the registration process including links for on-line training as well as to other Payroll-Based Journal resources is available on the Staffing Data Collection PBJ website.