​​​​​​​​​Skilled Nursing Facility Workforce and Quality Incentive Program​​

The Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Workforce & Quality Incentive Program (WQIP) incentivizes facilities to improve quality of care, advance equity in healthcare outcomes, and invest in workforce. WQIP functions as a directed payment program in Medi-Cal Managed Care delivery system for eligible network providers. WQIP is authorized by Welfare & Institutions Code Section 14126.024 (added by Assembly Bill (AB)186 (Chapter 46, Statutes of 2022)) for dates of service January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2026. WQIP succeeds the former SNF Quality and Accountability Supplemental Payment (QASP) program.

For WQIP program-related questions or concerns, please reach out to WQIP support staff at SNFWQIP@dhcs.ca.gov.

For additional information regarding other Nursing Facility Financing Reform programs authorized by AB 186, please see Nursing Facility Financing Reform AB 186.

WQIP Technical Program Guides

DHCS published the final version of the WQIP Technical Program Guide​​ for PY1 (2023). Public input was requested, and comments were due to DHCS on July 15, 2023. ​ 

The draft WQIP Technical Guide for PY2 (2024) will be published soon. Please refer to the WQIP PY2 (2024) Updates Letter​ for a list of WQIP related changes in affect as of PY2 (2024). 

SNF WQIP Interim Payment #1

​​DHCS has published Medi-Cal managed care plan (MCP) payment instructions for the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Workforce and Quality Incentive Program (WQIP) Calendar Year (CY) 2023 interim payment. The interim payment is be based on CY 2023 WQIP-Eligible Days reported by MCPs to DHCS’s data warehouse by December 31, 2023 and scores for the acuity-adjusted staffing hour metrics, staff turnover metric, and Minimum Data Set (MDS) clinical metrics. Payment amounts and additional information for each facility are available within the CY 2023 SNF WQIP Interim Payment​. MCPs are required to distribute all payments to facilities no later than 45 days after receiving payment exhibits from DHCS.​

The performance period ranges covered in the interim payment are:

• Acuity Adjusted Staffing Metrics: April 2023-September 2023
  
• Staffing Turnover: April 2022-September 2023 (inclusive of lookback and look-forward quarters)
• MDS Clinical Metrics: July 2022-June 2023

DHCS will issue guidance to MCPs later in 2024 to make final payments for CY 2023 based on SNF WQIP-Eligible Days reported to DHCS's data warehouse by June 30, 2024 and final scores for all SNF WQIP metrics including acuity-adjusted staffing hour metrics, staff turnover metric, MDS clinical metrics, claims based clinical metrics, Medi-Cal disproportionate share metric, and MDS racial and ethnic data completeness metric.

DHCS is aware that some facilities are working with MCPs to resolve technical discrepancies in days reported to the data warehouse. Prior to the final payment, DHCS may issue guidance directing MCPs to make a second interim payment to facilities that have major revisions to reported SNF WQIP-Eligible Days due to data discrepancies.​

​Qualifying Facility National Provider Identifier (NPI) Numbers

Several facilities have cited concerns about NPIs, largely due to changes in ownerships. The NPIs for the 2023 WQIP Interim Payment were obtained from publicly available CDPH licensing data. At this link WQIP Qualifying List​​ is a document with NPIs that DHCS has on file for facilities as of May 7, 2024. All facilities should verify that the correct NPIs and Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) IDs are listed for their facility for any 2023 dates of service. 

SNF WQIP Quarterly Performance Report #1​​​​​​​

Please find the SNF WQIP Quarterly Performance Report #1​

​The performance period ranges covered in the Quarterly Performance Report #1 below:

• Acuity Adjusted Staffing Metrics: April 2023-June 2023
• Staffing Turnover: October 2023 refresh rates
• With lookback and look-forward quarters: January 2022-June 2023
• Without lookback and look-forward quarters: April 2022-March 2023
• MDS Metrics: July 2022-June 2023
• Medi-Cal Disproportionate Share: January 2023-June 2023
• ​Race/Ethnicity Data Completeness: January 2023-September 2023

 Pursuant to DHCS's Data De-identification Guidelines, DHCS is not able to of not publicly releasing release any member-level rates that have a denominator less than 11. In the attached report, any rates with a denominator less than 11 are not shown for privacy reasons (i.e. to prevent the identification of individual member's data). This is called "suppression" for privacy reasons. The suppression of these rates does not affect a facility's ability to get payment for performance in WQIP. Calculation of performance for payment will be based on the methodology in the WQIP Technical Program Guide.

​​CY 2024

• ​CA_Fee_NF_Renewal_20240101-20241231 Approval Package​​

​​CY 2023

• ​CA_Fee_NF_New_20230101-20231231 Approval Package​​​​​