Home Health & Hospice Week

For M2102f, official diagnosis not necessary.

Medicare has followed up on its promise to resume issuing quarterly OASIS question-and-answer sets.

Reminder: In the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ May 15 Home Health Open Door Forum, a CMS official said the agency plans to post new OASIS Q&A sets quarterly in January, April, July, and October (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXVII, No. 19).

The latest set includes nine questions that address topics ranging from the one clinician rule to Resumption of Care assessment timing under the new Conditions of Participation to specific OASIS items. For example:

Question: We have a question about M2102f. Supervision and Safety. The 2018 Guidance Manual included a change in the response-specific instructions for Row f indicating that the patient must have a cognitive impairment or mental health issue although in the item it states, “for example” which has meant in the past that the example given is not all inclusive. Does the patient needing caregiver assistance require a diagnosis of a cognitive impairment or mental health condition to answer this item anything other than “0”?

Answer: The OASIS Guidance Manual states that M2102f should focus on supervision and safety necessary due to cognitive or mental health issues. The OASIS Guidance does not indicate a specific diagnosis is required. The need for supervision and safety due to cognitive or mental health issues may be based on the clinical judgment of the assessing clinician or others contributing to the comprehensive assessment.

Note: The four-page Q&A document is at https://qtso.cms.gov/download/hha/CMS_OAI_2nd_Qtr_2018_QAs_July_2018_FINAL_508.pdf.