Home Health & Hospice Week

Now's the time for clinicians to polish their general OASIS coding skills.

With the OASIS-D changes bearing down on home health agencies, providers are ready to take action - but there's not a lot to do before Medicare issues the final version of the assessment tool.

However: While waiting for the final OASIS-D form and instructions, you can also work on clinicians general assessment practices. Make sure staff members' current OASIS scoring is accurate, then build on that for the new items, suggests consultant Anita Werner with Fazzi Associates in Northampton, Massachusetts.

For example: Review your policy for allowing clinicians to use dashes. In the OASIS-C2 Guidance Manual effective in January 2017, for GG0170C CMS says "If no information is available or assessment is not possible for reason other than above, enter a dash ('–') for 1-SOC/ROC Performance." But you'll want your staff to use dashes only when absolutely necessary, Werner notes.

Remember: While "a dash (–) value is a valid response for this item ... a dash (–) value indicates that no information is available, and/or an item could not be assessed. This most often occurs when the patient is unexpectedly transferred, discharged or dies before assessment of the item could be completed. CMS expects dash use to be a rare occurrence," the manual says.

Clinicians may be tempted to use the dash for the physical activities they aren't used to assessing in such detail and intensity. Werner urges agencies to review with them when it is OK - and not OK -to use dashes for the GG items, as well as throughout the assessment tool.