As part of the 61st Annual Convention, AHCA/NCAL hosted a timely and thorough MEGASession:
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about MDS 3.0 and RUG IV. Representatives from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), AHCA, UHS Pruitt Corporation and others were on site to present on the implications of MDS 3.0 for clinical assessment, payment systems, regulatory practices and trends. The complete session handouts are still available
online.
The session began with a review of the history of the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI), MDS 2.0 and MDS 3.0. MDS 3.0 was launched to improve the clinical relevance and accuracy of MDS assessments, increase the voice of residents in assessments, and increase the resident’s involvement in the assessment process through direct interview.
Steven Littlehale, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of Point Right, Inc., spoke on the impact of MDS 3.0 on resident care. Among several critical points, Littlehale stressed that MDS 3.0 is not an update of MDS 2.0 and licensed and non-licensed caregivers should be able to contribute to the assessment of the entire resident. He also stressed that documentation systems consistent with MDS are useful and increase accuracy and efficiency.
Patricia Newberry, Executive Director Clinical of Reimbursement at UHS-Pruitt Corporation and AHCA’s Peter Gruhn presented on the issues an opportunities of the new RUG-IV, including ADL Scoring Changes, Resident Therapy Minutes, PPS Assessments, reimbursement issues and opportunities and more. In her presentation titled “Putting It All Together,”
Cheryl Field, Senior HealthCare Specialist at Point Right, Inc., provided a detailed review of the PPS assessment transition options and illustrated the implications of MDS 3.0 on facility operations. Mary Ousley, President of PMD Corporation, reviewed survey and certification protocol for long term care facilities post MDS 3.0. Highlights included off-site preparation, entrance/on-site activities, Task 5 Information Gathering Activities and Task 6 Determination of Compliance.
Bob Connolly, CMS Consultant, provided an overview of MDS 3.0 Section Q. The Section Q Addendum includes a listing of all MDS 3.0 Section Questions. He also provided information on CMS Section Q activities and resources for providers, which can be found on page 57 of the Session handout.
Did you attend the MDS 3.0 MEGASession? What did you think? Share your feedback in the comments section below.