Home Health & Hospice Week

Does your training process for the new assessment tool need an overhaul?

Are you ready for the OASIS-C1? Despite the ICD-10 delay, the deadline for transitioning to the new version of the OASIS is just around the corner. Make certain you know how the updated form will impact your agency.

Background: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ original plan was to debut the OASIS-C1 along with the commencement of ICD-10 on Oct. 1, 2014, says Pat Jump with Rice Lake, Wis.-based Acorn’s End Training & Consulting. However, because ICD-10 has been delayed until Oct. 1, 2015, CMS plans to move forward with an interim version of the modified data set, referred to as the "OASIS-C1/ICD-9."

Deadline: The OASIS-C1/ICD-9 changes will take effect on Jan. 1, 2015 and will remain in effect until ICD-10 is implemented or until otherwise determined by CMS, Jump says.

The OASIS-C1/ICD-9 will contain all the planned OASIS-C1 data set modifications except for those that are impacted by the ICD-10 delay.

These five OASIS-C1 data items that require the use of ICD-10 codes will be replaced with their original OASIS-C items in OASIS-C1/ ICD-9, Jump says:

• M1010 (Inpatient Diagnosis) will replace M1011,
• M1016 (Diagnosis Requiring Treatment Change) will replace M1017, and
• M1020/M1022/M1024 (Primary, Other, and Payment Diagnoses) will replace their ICD-10 parallels M1021/M1023/M1025.

In addition, watch for the deletion of M1012, the current inpatient surgical procedure item, effective Jan. 1, 2015. CMS announced in April 2011, that the inpatient surgical procedure data is no longer required. Agencies can currently answer "NA" or "UK" to M1012, but must still answer the data item until it is deleted, says OASIS expert Lisa Selman-Holman of Selman-Holman & Associates and CoDR -- Coding Done Right in Denton, Texas.

Action Plan: The first step to success with OASIS-C1 is to understand what’s changed, says Selman-Holman. Significant changes to the vaccination items will lend clarity that is sorely lacking in OASIS-C. Revision of the Risk for Hospitalization item means that item responses are more objective and removes professional judgment in making determinations. The OASIS-C Q&As have been cleaned up and revised as necessary for OASIS-C1 so there are many changes in store for everyone from clinical directors to QA to coders to field staff.

Watch These Dates When OASIS-C1 Deadline Rolls Around

You’ll complete an OASIS-C1 for M0090 dates of Jan. 1, 2015, and later. And you’ll complete an OASIS-C for M0090 dates in 2014. Keep in mind that you have five days after start of care to complete the SOC OASIS, so you may find yourself switching between forms as the transition deadline draws near.

For example: Suppose the SOC is on Dec. 29, 2014 but all the prescriptions are not in the home and the physician needs to be called for best practice orders. The physician returns your call on Jan. 2, 2015. You’ll answer M2250 ‘yes’ for those particular best practice interventions, but that changes the correct M0090 date to Jan. 2, 2015 meaning that you’ll need to complete the OASIS-C1 rather than the OASIS-C, Selman-Holman says.

Tip: Where you transmit your OASIS will also change effective Jan. 1, Selman-Holman points out. You’ll need to obtain new passwords and have a plan in place for transmitting your OASIS on time through the transition.

Note: For more details on all of the OASIS-C1 changes, subscribe to Home Health Diagnosis Coding and OASIS Expert at www.aapc.com/codes/coding-newsletters/my-homeoasis-expert-alert.