MDS Alert

CMS to look at how MDS data impact RUG classification, QIs, care planning.

Just when you thought DAVE had gone away, CMS announced round two for the MDS watchdog.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has contracted with Abt Associates to launch the second phase of the MDS data integrity initiative known as DAVE (Data Assessment Verification). Abt will also be working with the Connecticut and Rhode Island quality improvement organizations in the follow-up. The plan to date calls for a DAVE team composed of experienced clinicians with "proficiencies in coding the MDS" to visit 60 randomly selected facilities this spring, according to a CMS spokesperson at a recent SNF Open Door Forum.

CMS plans to conduct the second phase by maintaining "open communication and collaborative working relationships" with its partners, according to the agency spokesperson. "We really don't plan any surprises," she emphasized, adding that facilities will be notified in advance of any onsite visits. A facility's probability of being selected for a DAVE visit "will be proportional to its volume of MDS assessments."

The DAVE 2 project will build on the findings of the original DAVE which uncovered coding problems in Sections G (activities of daily living),  I (diagnoses), O (medications), P (rehab therapies) and J (dehydration and pain).

CMS plans to look at the DAVE 2 findings at year's end and make some decisions going forward. The agency wants to look at the impact of MDS discrepancies on quality indicators and measures, RUG classifications and resident care planning.