HCPro.com: PPS Alert for Long-Term Care

Looking for a tool to make your job easier? PPS Alert for Long-Term Care, exclusively for the RN or MDS coordinator, is your survival guide for complying with PPS.

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January 2008 (Volume 11, Issue 1)	view entire issue

What exactly is a SNF? The answer affects spell of illness benefit periods
There is a common misconception that a skilled nursing facility (SNF) is always defined as a Medicare-certified facility or distinct-part unit. However, new MLN Matters article SE0745 puts that misconception to rest. The article discusses how a SNF is defined when determining durable medical equipment (DME) coverage and then explains how that same definition plays into whether a Part A benefit period can end.

Is billing office pressure getting to be too much?
MDS coordinators face mounting pressure from their facility business office to complete and transmit MDS assessments for the previous month's Medicare Part A residents as soon as possible in the current month. The pressure derives from the billers' desire to close their books and subsequently bill the Medicare program. "I'm hearing more and more that business offices want everything closed by the fifth of the month," says Elizabeth Malzahn, manager at FR&R Healthcare Consulting, Inc., in Deerfield, IL. Some billers have even set cutoff dates as early as the second.

Follow these MDS coding tips for your CPS score
Editor's note: This article is the second in a two-part series about the Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS). You may not regard determining a resident's CPS as one of your key job duties. However, there's a lot riding on your scoring. Significant financial and survey implications mean that the MDS items that contribute to the CPS must be coded accurately, says Patricia Boyer, MSM, RN, NHA, president of the long-term care consulting firm Boyer and Associates, LLC, in Brookfield, WI. Follow these steps to ensure that your MDS coding produces the correct CPS score for each resident

PPS Q&A
"PPS Q&A" is written by Rena R. Shephard, MHA, RN, FACDONA, RAC-CT, founding chair and executive editor of the American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators and president of RRS Healthcare Consulting Services in San Diego.

Other recently-published articles from PPS Alert for Long-Term Care:

PPS Q&A

Coding therapy on the MDS: Make sure minutes are coded accurately to avoid denials

Working the RAPs successfully: A guide to the process

RAP documentation: Achieve compliance

PPS Q&A

The RAPs: What they can do for you

Assess and individualize to code item M5c

’Better off dead’ MDS 3.0 question troubles some MDS nurses

CMS will add five-star ratings to Nursing Home Compare

PPS Q&A

Take these steps for timely, accurate quarterlies

The key to Medicare meeting success lies in the agenda and advance prep

PPS Q&A

Medicare meetings from the ground up

Look into CMS’ crystal ball

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