The Physician and “I”: Part 1 on Diagnoses and MDS Coding Relationships

Written by Michelle Olear, RHIT, BSN Director of Documentation Analysis and Professional Coding Services Minimum Data Set Consultants, LLC  The physician’s role in the skilled nursing facility (SNF) is essential to delivering skilled, quality care for skilled and long-term care residents. Physicians are the facility’s lead in providing clinical decision-making and properly …

Develop an Action Plan for CMS’s Schizophrenia MDS Audits

Written by: Jessica Stucin, RN, BSN, LNHA, RAC-CT, Assistant Director of Education, MDS Consultants On Jan. 18, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced they will be conducting offsite audits in nursing homes for assessment accuracy and coding of residents with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Along with …

Vision is the First Step Forward for Effective Change

By Cody Campbell and AAPACN Leadership pioneer and scholar, Warren Bennis once said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate a vision into reality.” This quote inspires in moments of stress and anxiety related to work, and all nurse leaders can utilize this statement for effective change in their facilities. Leaders …

Strengthen Care Plans to Reflect the Residents’ Needs

by Michele Mummert, RN, RAC-CT, RAC-CTA, DNS-CT, Director of Research and Development, The Compliance Store Care planning is the foundation of resident care in the long-term care setting. Everything done to care for the resident rests in the care plan. Inadequate care plans that do not appropriately address the resident’s …

Five Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining MDS Coordinators

Written by Michael Daniels, RN, DNS-CT, QCP, RAC-CT, RAC-CTA All one needs to do is peruse the long-term care (LTC)/skilled nursing facility (SNF) job openings online for a few minutes to realize that something is amiss. Frenzied healthcare staffing recruiters seem to crawl from the woodwork as they compete to …

Burnout: How Can Nurse Leadership Help?

By Melanie Tribe-Scott, BSN, RN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, QCP                        The U.S. Surgeon General recently issued an advisory highlighting the urgent need to address the health worker burnout crisis across the country (Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, 2022). In a press release, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated …

How Comfort Theory Can Help Ease Burnout and Improve Well-Being in Nursing Home Staff

By Faith Carini-Graves, Director of Skill Development, MDS Consultants The problem: What does an MDS coordinator, DON, CNA, therapist, nursing home administrator, RN, LPN, activities professional, social worker, and dietitian all have in common? They are all exhausted! All long-term and post-acute care staff can benefit from improved self-care. Better …

Involve the Therapy Team to Address Changes in Condition and Improve Resident Outcomes in Nursing Homes

By Liz Barlow, RN, CRRN, RAC-CT, DNS-CT, AVP Clinical Innovation, Synchrony Rehab At the end of August, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held a National Provider Stakeholder call to review some of the recent COVID updates. CMS commented that data collected, along with nursing home surveys, are …

Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes NACs Make Coding I0020B

by Carol Maher, RN-BC, RAC-MTA, RAC-MT, CPC ICD-10-CM coding is not a skill nursing school conveys to students, yet it is one that nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) must acquire to perform their diagnosis coding duties competently. Medicare’s transition to the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) on October 1, 2019, elevated the …