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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March 2008 (Volume 11, Issue 3)	view entire issue

MDS 3.0: Get up to date on planned changes
CMS and its primary MDS 3.0 validation contractor, Santa Monica, CA-based RAND Corporation recently held a Special Open Door Forum to review the proposed clinical content changes for the revised draft MDS 3.0. A significant change in the MDS 3.0 compared to the 2.0 is that it consistently gives residents a voice by using direct interview items, said Debra Saliba, MD, MPH, RAND's principal investigator. In addition, the proposed 3.0 has increased clinical relevance; increased accuracy, including both validity (the degree to which items measured the intended concept) and reliability (the extent to which two data collectors achieved the same results when assessing the same event); increased clarity; and increased efficiency.

Common Part A benefit period myths debunked
A benefit period is a mechanism for measuring the use of hospital insurance benefits, known as skilled nursing facility (SNF) Part A or extended-care benefits, for residents who have had a three-day qualifying inpatient hospital stay and require a Part A skilled level of care, said Lee Heinbaugh, president of the long-term care consulting company The Heinbaugh Group in Lakewood, OH, during the November 26, 2007, HCPro, Inc., audioconference "Critical SNF Billing Requirements: No-Pay Billing vs. Benefits Exhaust."

PPS Q&A
Editor's note: "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:

Keys to keeping PPS assessments on schedule

CMS finally clarifies default billing

Learn the difference: Late vs. missed assessments

Counting therapy minutes: Use a triple-check review to ensure accuracy

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

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