MDS Alert

Question: Should our facility always do an SCSA combined with a readmission assessment for a Part A-stay resident who had an admission assessment transmitted before being discharged to the hospital (return anticipated) for several days and readmitted to the SNF?

Answer: "No," says Judy Wilhide Brandt, RN, BA, C-NE, RAC-MT, principal of Judy Wilhide MDS Consulting in Virginia Beach, Va. "While it is always a good idea to consider [doing an] SCSA upon return, it is always a clinical determination and should only be done if the resident meets the criteria for a significant change."

The RAI User's Manual defines a significant change as "a decline or improvement in a resident's status that:

• Will not normally resolve itself without intervention or by implementing standard disease-related clinical intervention;
• Impacts more than one area of resident's health status;
• Requires interdisciplinary review and/or revision of care plan."