CMS temporarily lifts MDS reporting timeline

Skilled nursing facilities will see the timeline requirements for reporting the Minimum Data Set (MDS) to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extended as they work to keep residents safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. CMS announced at the end of April that it would provide a blanket waiver for MDS reporting timeline so facilities could focus their energy on infection control programs that could help slow the spread of COVID-19.

The timeline waiver applies specifically to regulations listed under 42 CFR 483.20. The MDS data under that code documents and monitors residents’ conditions by assessing cognitive patters, vision, communication, mood and behavior, psychological and social health, physical function, continence, diagnoses and condition, medication, treatments and procedures, activity and discharge planning.

Some of screenings affected by the timeline waiver include:

• Pre-admission Level 1 and Level 2 screenings, which are typically required within the first 14 days of admittance
• Quarterly review assessments, which are required at least once every three months
• Annual assessments, which are required at least once every 12 months
• Assessments that mark significant changes in a patient’s condition within 14 days of those changes

Under normal circumstances, all MDS data collected during resident assessments must be encoded within seven days and reported to CMS within 14 days.

Because the waivers were a blanket order issued by CMS, skilled nursing facilities do not have to file any additional paperwork if they will be delaying the reporting of the eligible MDS. The waiver does not apply to MDS required for CMS’s April 29 reports, as that data would have been collected before a public health emergency was declared on Jan. 31. The blanket waiver is in effect for 60 days, though there is a potential to extend the waiver.

Source:

Director, CMS Quality Safety & Oversight Group, April 24, 2020,  memorandum to State Survey Agency Directors. https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-28-nh.pdf

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