OASIS:
GET READY FOR A LOT OF OASIS-C WORK
Published on Tue Jan 20, 2009
CMS underestimates burden of revamped patient assessment tool, industry reps charge. OASIS-C is getting the cold shoulder from many home health agencies, and one of the biggest complaints is the extra work it will entail. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed the latest OASIS-C incarnation in the Nov. 14, 2008 Federal Register. In supporting paperwork, CMS claims that the new form will add no additional workload for HHAs beyond brief initial training. The OASIS-C form will have more M0 items, but some of them won't apply to all patients,CMS maintains. "For example, there are a number of questions related to pressure ulcers that apply only to the home health population with pressure ulcers, estimated to be less than 5 percent," the agency says. None of the data CMS collected while field testing the tool "indicates that any additional time would be required to complete the OASIS-C," CMS contends. [...]
