Some MDS coordinators can be stubborn about insisting that boggy skin should be coded as a stage four ulcer. Their rationale appears to be that, as with necrotic eschar and slough, the condition of the ulcer beneath the skin is not visible, and therefore they cannot stage it.

This code is used when a resident is discharged home, to a lower level of care, or dies. If this resident is readmitted to the facility, he or she is treated as a new admission, starting over again with a new admission assessment (AA8a=1).