MDS Alert

You’ll only complete Section GG at the beginning of a resident’s Medicare stay and at discharge from the Medicare stay, so this section does not always apply. However, during admission and discharge it is critical to complete and record at least one goal to prevent loss of reimbursement.

Items GG0130A1 (Self-care, eating, admission) and GG0130A2 (Self-care, eating, discharge goal) reflect a resident’s ability to use utensils and the physical capability of eating (particularly swallowing) at admission and discharge from a Medicare stay. This item is still applicable regardless of whether food texture is modified for safety reasons. Code for this item based on safety and quality.

For GG0130A at both admission and discharge choose from the following options for goal performance:

• 06 (Independent), no assistance from helper;
• 05 (Setup or cleanup assistance), staff member sets out or cleans up meal, but resident eats without needing any help;
• 04 (Supervision or touching assistance), helperverbally queues or guides resident’s arm while eating;
• 03 (Partial/moderate assistance), staff member provides some assistance during the meal, perhaps lifting a resident’s arm or occasionally redirecting a fork, but less than half of the effort;
• 02 (Substantial/maximum assistance), team member lifts a resident’s arm or guides the fork to the mouth, providing more than half of the effort; or
• 01 (Dependent), staff member provides total assistance during meal, resident merely swallows.

If eating was not attempted, code the reason why:

• 07 (Resident refused),
• 09 (Not applicable), or
• 88 (Not attempted due to medical or safety concerns).

Top tip: “Think about each self-care or mobility item as separate when completing admission and discharge performance and discharge goal,” said amy Franklin, Rn, RaC-Mt, Dns-Mt, QCP-MT, curriculum development specialist for aaDns, in Denver, Colorado, in a July 2016 AANAC presentation handout.