AHCA applauds CMS promise to reduce frequency of RAI changes

The American Health Care Association (AHCA) praised announcements made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at last week’s 2012 MDS National Conference in St. Louis to incorporate “several changes aimed at easing the complexity of MDS 3.0,” the association said in a statement.

CMS announced multiple changes at the conference that will directly impact long-term and post-acute care providers, one of which would allow providers to carry forward patient interview coding for unscheduled PPS assessments provided that the most recent interviews  were performed no more than 14 days prior.

A reduction in the frequency of RAI manual changes is also forthcoming, as CMS plans to release errata documents on only those pages where changes and modifications are made, “making it easier for providers to maintain the RAI manual,” AHCA said. After the next release in October 2012, future RAI manual updates will occur only once per year, CMS said at the conference.

“We are pleased that CMS has taken these steps to reduce the burden of MDS on patients and care providers,” said Dr. David Gifford, senior vice president of Quality, Regulatory Affairs, and Research at AHCA. “Time saved by these modifications can be directed to the most important priority—improving quality care and the lives of residents.”

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