Take advantage of free OASIS training. What do efficient billing, successful quality improvement and stellar surveys all have in common? You guessed it - accurate OASIS collection and reporting. "It's really important that you have accurate OASIS data," emphasized Mary Weakland in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Oct. 3 satellite broadcast on the Home Health Quality Initiative. Under the prospective payment system, home health agencies' OASIS data is used for all the following purposes, Weakland enumerated:
To help agencies improve their OASIS accuracy, CMS now offers Web-based OASIS training at www.oasistraining.org, Weakland announced. The online training for HHAs and their clinicians will cover a variety of topics ranging from how to conduct a comprehensive assessment to nitty gritty instructions and quizzes for each OASIS item. One of its most helpful features is a definitive answer to a nagging pressure ulcer question. HHAs have wondered how to answer pressure ulcer-related OASIS items (M0445, M0450, M0460 and M0464), which generate extra payment, when patients are admitted with fully healed ulcers. In the training, CMS makes clear it is OK to claim those Stage 3 or 4 pressure ulcers even when they're healed before admission, thereby raising your PPS payment rate for the patient. Weakland also recommends that HHAs give each clinician her own copy of the newly revised OASIS User's Manual, which contains specific instructions on how to answer OASIS items. Editor's Note: For more helpful information on mastering OASIS, see Eli's OASIS Alert at www.eliresearch.com.