• E-mail
• Print
• RSS
• Reprints

MDS 3.0 Section M specifics: Tips to ensure correct coding

PPS Alert for Long-Term Care, April 1, 2010

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to PPS Alert for Long-Term Care.

Coding skin conditions in Section M of the MDS can be quite a challenge for SNFs, and the changes ¬included in the MDS 3.0 and new RAI User’s Manual may make the process even more demanding.

“Section M is the largest section on the MDS 3.0 form; it went from being less than half a page on the MDS 2.0 to three pages long on the MDS 3.0,” says Marilyn Mines, manager of clinical services at FR&R Healthcare Consulting, Inc., in Deerfield, IL. “Granted the font on the MDS 3.0 is larger, but the specificity of what it is asking for is significantly more than the MDS 2.0.”

To ensure accurate coding of Section M under the MDS 3.0, SNFs should educate staff members about the changes and terminology, implement policies and procedures to improve consistency, and, if necessary, modify their methods of data collection.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to PPS Alert for Long-Term Care.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive
• Reprints / Permissions