Home Health & Hospice Week

It’s not too early to start preparing your agency for the big OASIS revamp. To reduce the pain when OASIS-C hits about a year from now, you’d better start getting ready right away. Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued its latest draft of the OASIS retool. The new form for home health agencies makes widespread changes, including the addition of numerous process-based items on care provision timeliness; physician notification; immunizations; risk assessments, care planning, and interventions for pain, depression, falls, and pressure ulcers; interventions for diabetes, heart failure, and pressure ulcers; and drug reviews and teaching (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XVII, No. 42, p. 330). While OASIS-C will undergo some tweaks before CMS issues the final version next year, it’s not too early to begin preparing for the big change, says Ann Rambusch with Rambusch3 Consulting in Round Rock, Texas. "I definitely think agencies should start planning now," agrees Chicago-based regulatory consultant Rebecca Friedman Zuber. With so much to do before the new form hits in January 2010, agencies need all the time they can get to prepare. Just training on the new form will take up a good deal of time and resources, points out consultant Judy Adams with LarsonAllen based in Cha-rlotte, N.C. "There will certainly need to be considerable re-education for clinicians on the OASIS form and the individual questions," Adams predicts. Here are the steps these experts recommend you take now to prepare for OASIS-C:   1. Review the rule. Get to know the OASIS changes that are in store for you. "Agencies should download a copy of OASIS-C and study it," Ram-busch urges. Be sure to submit your comments on the new form by Jan. 13, Adams adds. Providers should be sure to note "any items they feel are unclear or unnecessary, as well as any topics they believe may be missing from the form," she tells Eli.   2. Take stock of your processes. Now’s the time to take a hard look at your own procedures so you can prepare for the new process-based items, Friedman Zuber advises. Figure out which processes you already perform and which ones you’ll have to add or modify. For example: "Many agencies already have fall risk assessments and utilize the Braden scale for pressure ulcer risk factors," Adams observes. Agencies that are trying to reduce their acute care hospitalization rates may also already address immunization, depression, medication management, management of heart disease (especially heart failure), and involvement of caregivers, Rambusch adds. While OASIS-C may undergo some changes, it’s a safe bet that the final form will still require these elements, experts say.   3. Map out your implementation plan. Once you know which processes [...]