MDS Alert

Question: A resident who has been in our facility has had a lot of fluctuation in weight. There’s nothing in the care plan about the weight loss being intentional or planned by a physician, etc. But in the past four months, they lost 8 percent of their weight and then have gained it back entirely. Do I record this on the MDS anywhere?

Minnesota Subscriber

Answer: The RAI Manual instructs that paying attention to timeframes is key to filling out the MDS accurately. For item K0300 (Weight Loss), your lookback periods are 5 percent or more of body weight in the past 30 days or 10 percent or more in the last 180 days. The RAI Manual notes that some weight change situations may be more a matter of provision of care rather than MDS record, saying, on page K-6: “A resident may experience weight variances in between the snapshot time periods. Although these require follow up at the time, they are not captured on the MDS.”