Home Health & Hospice Week

Check out these high-priority items on the training list.

It may be the end of summer, but it’s no time to take a vacation from OASIS education.

The OASIS-D Guidance Manual is out and there are only five short months to go before a wide array of OASIS changes take effect. And remember, the last month-and-a-half of that ramp-up period will be during the hectic holiday season.

A pleasant surprise in the Manual is the addition of practice scenarios and other details, says OASIS expert Sherri Parson with Quality in Real Time in Floral Park, New York. “I just love the definitions and examples” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has added, Parson says. “The practice examples for the new items provide some practice ahead of time, which is a wonderful tool agencies can use,” she adds.

To make the most of the new resources, Parson recommends beginning staff training “right away” on OASIS-D. “These changes are very comprehensive,” she warns.

Starting training now is a good idea, agrees Diane Magrady, compliance lead with Morton Grove, Illinois-based Pragma-IT, creator of the therapyBOSS therapy documentation software solution.

Choose Your Training Strategy

Parson recommends introducing clinicians to the new and heavily revised OASIS-D items immediately. “Some of these items will take extra time for field staff, so understanding them well will help with the transition,” she says.

For example: “GG0170 now includes many more assessment areas,” Parson points out. “It will be important that clinicians understand the extra assessment burdens of this item.”

Or agencies may choose to follow Magrady’s advice for a gradual ramp-up. “Start with clarifications on OASIS items already in the C2 data set,” she offers. Then, “begin to expose staff to a few GG scenarios and assessment strategies at a time,” she recommends. “The big educational push on the new items needs to come around October 2018.”

With both timelines, the experts urge agencies to make liberal use of CMS’s new example scenarios.

If you find yourself scrambling to fit in your OASIS training, Magrady recommends prioritizing these items:

• revised M1306-M1311 (wounds)
• revised M2001-M2016 (medications)
• new GG0100 and GG0110 (functional abilities and goals)
• new GG0130 (self care)
• new GG0170 (mobility)
• new J1800 and J1900 (falls) (see story, p. 222).