Standardized tool for assessing post-acute care is floated in House and Senate
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 20, 2014
Lawmakers in both houses of Congress have unveiled a draft bill calling for post-acute care providers to furnish standard assessment data, with the goals of enabling better quality oversight and driving...
Doctors are dropping the ball during hospital to nursing home transfers, survey shows
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 13, 2014
Poor communication between physicians is the No. 1 issue hurting patient transitions between hospitals and nursing homes, according to a recent survey of long-term care professionals.
Staff understanding of MDS Quality Indicators is ‘mediocre at best,’ study finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 04, 2014
Frontline staff in long-term care facilities generally do not have a firm grasp on Minimum Data Set Quality Indicators, largely due to a lack of involvement with the MDS, according to a recently published...
MDS staff face time crunches
By
Elizabeth Newman
Mar 01, 2014
Each nursing home resident assessment takes five hours on average for a Minimum Data Set or nurse coordinator to finish, according to survey results from the American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordination.
Ask the payment expert … about the Brief Interview for Mental Status
By
Patricia Boyer
Feb 01, 2014
Is there anything we should be doing with the results of the Brief Interview for Mental Status (BIMs) and PHQ-9 that we get from the MDS?
Resident assessments and care planning quality are threatened by nurses’ unrelated duties, survey...
By
Tim Mullaney
Jan 30, 2014
Filling out a comprehensive assessment for a nursing home resident takes five hours on average, and nurses’ workloads can make it difficult to carve out this time, according to survey results from...
CMS releases new RAI Manual
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 26, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued the latest version of the Minimum Data Set 3.0 Resident Assessment Instrument User’s Manual, which takes effect Oct. 1. Although CMS posted...
MDS memo clarifies transition to new therapy, nutritional status items
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 24, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a memorandum clarifying transition policies for new Minimum Data Set items related to swallowing and nutritional status, as well as therapy.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently addressed provider questions related to regulations pertaining to discharge assessments and agreements between skilled nursing and hospice providers.
Ask the payment expert … about MDS staffing
By
Patricia Boyer
Sep 01, 2013
We recently lost our MDS nurse and didn’t know what to do, as no one else knew how to do MDSs. What should we do differently now?