MDS Alert

Isabella staff members conduct two case management rounds meeting each week -- "one for the dedicated short stay rehab neighborhood and one for all remaining neighborhoods," Ungar explains. "The meeting serves not only as a Medicare Part A and HMO management meeting but also ... as a meeting to review our many faceted approaches to ensuring quality care," she adds. During the meetings, the MDS and rehab departments also "closely communicate on ARD management," Ungar relays.

The team also relies "heavily on e-mails ... to distribute weekly MDS schedules and to give daily alerts as MDS changes occur," Ungar says. "All clinical team members access their e-mails several times daily to ensure they have the latest MDS information for correct and timely coding. We also send hard copies of all changes up to the nursing neighborhoods."

"Our software allows us to run checks on any incomplete MDS assessments," Ungar continues. "The MDS department runs these reports weekly to ensure all MDS assessments are completed and locked. We then cross check our submission reports against our schedules and rosters to make sure" they have all been submitted. The facility also submits MDS batches twice each week to ensure they are on time, she adds. "We maintain separate electronic weekly discharge MDS logs that we update daily and color code when completed."