MDS Alert
Rehab Low May Be a Good Clinical Fit In This Scenario
Meet residents' needs and sidestep potential medical review woes. Medicare has always had a tendency to scrutinize rehab therapy for patients who are debilitated due to medical conditions treated in the hospital, such as pneumonia. And Pauline Franko, PT, MCSP, has been hearing about some recent MAC probe reviews looking at therapy for what she calls the "old chestnut" (classic) diagnoses of pneumonia, UTI, and dehydration, which she notes are nursing issues. "The SNFs are either coding those diagnoses as a reason for the SNF stay or using a V code for therapy, but essentially they are treating patients who have been debilitated by those conditions in the hospital," relays Franko, president of Encompass Consulting & Education LLC in Tamarac, Fla. Advice: Franko recommends that SNFs consider Rehab Low for those types of patients, if therapy is indicated -- "as long as the person has an ADL score of 11 or more and you can get restorative nursing in there straight away and get three days of therapy a week. Then if the person isn't improving [in functional status] after 10 days or so, you can up your therapy time because obviously the person has something else going on," she adds.
MDS Alert
- MDS 3.0 Update:
Got MDS 3.0 Questions? CMS Officials Shed Light on These Key Areas
The agency plans to analyze providers' suggestions for eliminating duplication. The MDS 3.0 rolled out [...] - Pressure Ulcer Coding:
MDS 3.0 RAI Manual Instructions for Coding Decubiti Trump NPUAP Guidelines
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Unstageable Pressure Ulcers Related to Suspected Deep Tissue Injury
Check out these 4 coding tips. Once suspected deep tissue injury has opened to an [...] - Know the Ins and Outs of the Short-Stay Assessment for Rehab Patients
Your SNF could lose $$ big-time if you are unaware of this key point. Section [...] - Payment Trends:
2 Reasons Why Use of Medicare Short-Stay Assessment May Be Limited
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CMS Algorithm Spells Out 8 Requirements for Doing a Short-Stay Assessment - Tool:
Use This Chart to Stay on Top of the RUG-IV ARDs - Compliance:
Beware: The OIG Work Plan Is Chock-Full of Compliance Hot Spots
The list includes MDS accuracy, hospitalizations, potential False Claims Act actions, and more. If your [...] - Best Practices:
Make Activities a Key Part of Behavioral Care Plans
Find out how potatoes helped put an end to a resident's aggression. If you don't [...] - Compliance Tip:
Rehab Low May Be a Good Clinical Fit In This Scenario
Meet residents' needs and sidestep potential medical review woes. Medicare has always had a tendency [...] - Test Yourself:
When Are Antipsychotics Indicated?
Find out how people watching a CMS surveyor training webinar answered this question. Antipsychotics would [...] - What Do You Think?
How Does the Clinical Change Assessment Compare to the Significant Change in Status Assessment? Answer: [...] - Survey & Compliance News
CMS has updated survey forms to reflect the MDS 3.0. The CMS-802 (roster/sample matrix) form [...] - Answer and Poll Results to Test Yourself Question on Page 130
Correct answer: D (none of the above): 70 percent of people watching the CMS surveyor [...]
