Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have recently experienced 2 major disruptions impacting staffing: 1) the Medicare payment reform in October 2019, which significantly altered reimbursement incentives for post-acute stays, and 2) the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic. Extensive research has been conducted on how these events have affected nurse staffing in SNFs, including registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and certified nursing assistants (CNAs). However, there is limited knowledge about the staffing patterns of non-nursing professions in SNFs, particularly regarding whether these roles are filled by employed or contract workers.

This report examines trends in staffing of non-nursing direct care occupations in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) from 2018 to 2022 using the Payroll Based Journal, a publicly available data source with daily staffing information by occupation from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.