OASIS Alert

Build these expert tips into your assessment repertoire.

There are still a few headaches coming your way as you wrestle OASIS C into submission -- especially as you attempt to incorporate new or revised items into your workflow.

Last month's "5 Proven Methods for Stepping Over OASIS Hotspots" offered techniques and tips to get you started. Gain even more ground with another four methods for besting the new tool:

1. Prioritize. You won't be able to tackle every OASIS C problem at once. Providers should "triage their issues," counsels Chicagobased regulatory consultant Rebecca Friedman Zuber. Address "accuracy first and then tackle your productivity."

2. Add or revise P&P. You'll need more than just new tools to handle OASIS C. Agencies need to look at their internal agency processes to see if they are still appropriate under OASIS C, advises Judy Adams, an OASIS expert with Adams Home Care Consulting in Chapel Hill, N.C. "Many will need to be modified because it is a new situation."

For example: For the physician notification items, HHAs will need to decide how to address a case where the physician isn't responsive, says consultant Lynda Laff with Laff Associates in Hilton Head Island, S.C. "Agencies must develop policies and procedures about how to handle these issues."

3. Split up the assessment. "Clinicians need to spread the assessment over at least two visits to avoid extreme fatigue by patients and allow enough time to complete the assessment correctly," Adams maintains. The clinician can identify the immediate care needs and begin addressing those on the first and second visit, and defer parts of the assessment until the second visit, along with providing the needed actual patient care.

"This would ... require HHAs to change the timeframe for completing a Start of Care OASIS to more than a 24- or 48-hour time period," Adams acknowledges.

Resource: Learn more about breaking up your visit in "2-Part Intake Assessments May Ease Your OASIS C Transition" in OASIS Alert, Volume 11, Number 2.