Payroll-Based Journal data is the source CMS uses for staffing information shown on Care Compare. It is drawn from payroll and other verifiable records, and facilities submit it on a regular schedule. Because it feeds public information about staffing, errors matter. A mapped job code in the wrong category, missing contract-staff hours, or a data gap can distort how a building appears. The good news is that a handful of routine checks can catch most problems before submission.
Why internal checks are worth the time
PBJ submission is often handled by a few people with deep knowledge of payroll systems. When it works, nobody notices. When it does not, the corrections come after deadlines or after the data is public. A simple pre-submission review costs a small amount of time and reduces the chance of a misleading picture.
Follow current CMS PBJ policy manuals and submission deadlines, which are specified by CMS, and involve your compliance and payroll contacts in establishing the process.
Checks to build
Job code mapping review
Confirm that each payroll job title maps to the correct PBJ category. New titles, role changes and system updates can break mappings without anyone noticing. Review the mapping list at least quarterly and whenever positions change.
Hours reasonableness by day
Look at total reported hours by day and compare with your own staffing records. Large unexplained swings, missing days or zero-hour days are worth investigating.
Weekend and holiday coverage
Weekend data are sometimes incomplete if timekeeping differs. Check that weekend hours appear and look plausible compared with your schedules.
Contract and agency hours
Agency and contract staff may not be in the same payroll system as employees. Confirm that their hours are captured and categorized. Compare against invoices as a cross-check.
Census alignment
PBJ staffing information is used alongside census figures. Verify that the census used in your internal calculations matches what you submit, and that it is current.
Exempt and salaried staff
Make sure hours are captured appropriately for salaried employees whose hours may not be tracked the same way. Discuss your approach with your payroll and compliance contacts.
Duplicates and outliers
Look for duplicate entries and unusual values, such as a single person with an implausible number of hours in a day.
A simple pre-submission dashboard
Consider a view that shows, for the reporting period:
- Total hours by category and day
- HPRD trend compared with prior periods
- List of new or changed job codes
- Contract hours compared with invoices
- Count of days with unusually low or high values
- Status of each check: reviewed, flagged or resolved
This can take the form of a short checklist backed by data, signed off by a named person before submission.
Making it a team habit
Assign an owner for PBJ, plus a backup who can step in. Schedule the review a set number of days before the deadline so that there is time to correct problems. Share results with the administrator and DON so that staffing data is understood across the leadership team.
A hypothetical example
Imagine a hypothetical building that adds a new staffing role and a new payroll code during the quarter. In the pre-submission review, the owner notices that the new code does not appear in the mapping list, and that hours for those employees are therefore not categorized. Because the check happens ahead of the deadline, the code is mapped correctly before submission. The review might feel like a small chore, but it keeps the building's staffing picture accurate.
Linking with internal staffing management
PBJ data is retrospective. Internal daily and weekly staffing dashboards help operators manage in real time. Compare the two periodically to see whether the picture from the payroll data matches your day-to-day understanding. Differences are signals worth investigating.
Pitfalls
- Waiting until the deadline. Leave time to fix problems.
- Relying on a single person. Plan for turnover and vacations.
- Ignoring changes in the payroll system. Updates can alter exports.
- Treating PBJ as only a compliance task. It is also a useful operational dataset.
Closing thought
Accurate staffing data is part of an honest public picture of your building. If you would like to see payroll and schedule data arranged into a pre-submission checking view, CarePulse can walk you through a demo using your own numbers.