• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Tip of the week: Understand your role in the MDS process for better quality and reimbursement

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, April 16, 2009

The MDS coordinator is responsible for ensuring that the coding and documentation of all residents are done appropriately and within the mandated guidelines. The MDS is an evaluation tool that is mandated for evaluating all residents within nursing care facilities. The MDS coordinator and the MDS system are the point positions that drive much of the billing process, especially related to Medicare reimbursement.

The administrator does not have to be as well schooled in the MDS process as his or her MDS coordinator. However, the administrator must have a basic understanding of what the MDS does, how it works, how it influences reimbursement, and how it is an important tool for addressing the quality indicator profile that the administrator often examines. Moreover, the administrator has to have enough knowledge of the MDS evaluation process to be able to ask informative questions to the MDS coordinator, especially in regard to reimbursement, accuracy, and regulatory protocol.

This tip was adapted from HCPro’s book The Long-Term Care Administrator’s Field Guide, by Brian Garavaglia, PhD.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive