MDS Alert

Reader Question:

People in This Staff Role Can Work Remotely

Question: What does the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) say about long-term care staff working remotely? Our facility’s clinical social worker has requested the privilege, but she completes many sections of the MDS for residents. Does it change the consolidated billing (CB) bundling at all?

Pennsylvania Subscriber

Answer: Yes, clinical social workers can work remotely, regardless of whether a public health emergency has been declared or is in effect, CMS says.

“Moreover, the CB rules that apply to bundled services (such as CSW services that are furnished to a SNF’s Part A resident) do not change merely because the services in question happen to be rendered remotely rather than in person; accordingly, such services when conducted remotely would remain subject to CB,” CMS says, in a COVID-19 fact sheet for long-term care stakeholders.