MDS data validation is live: what to do if your facility is selected
August 10, 2026
As of January 2026, CMS is running its Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing Data Validation Process. Facilities are selected at random, and selection notices arrive through the MDS 3.0 Provider Preview Reports folders in iQIES. If nobody at your facility checks those folders regularly, you can be selected and not know it, and the response window runs whether you are watching or not.
Validation means CMS checks whether the MDS data underlying your quality scores matches the medical record. This lands alongside a wave of federal audit activity scrutinizing MDS accuracy and billing under PDPM, including OIG audits recommending multimillion dollar refunds where documentation did not support the assessments. The direction is unmistakable: the government is testing whether the data facilities report is true.
The preparation is not exotic. Know who checks iQIES and how often. Know how quickly your team can pull the records that support an MDS assessment. And audit your own MDS-to-documentation match before the government does it for you.
Bottom line for operators:
Assign one named person to check your iQIES provider folders every week, and treat a selection notice like an audit with a clock, because that is what it is.