MDS Alert
Remember These OBRA Regulations
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Maine Subscriber Answer: Where the resident is readmitted from doesn’t matter, CMS says. “No, the source of the readmission is not a relevant factor. The beneficiary may be readmitted to the SNF from the community, from an intervening hospital stay, or from a different kind of facility, and the interrupted stay policy would operate in the same manner. The only relevant factors to the determination of whether a stay is considered ‘interrupted’ under the Interrupted Stay Policy are the length of time between stays, and whether the patient is admitted to the same or a different SNF,” says CMS in a Patient-Driven Payment Model FAQ set. The pertinent regulations are part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA), also known as the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987. “The OBRA regulations for completion of assessments in the nursing facility have not changed. The requirements for timing, scheduling, and completion deadlines still are in place. The interrupted stay in a Medicare Part A resident is a Medicare issue, not OBRA,” says Jane Belt, MS, RN, QCP, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, curriculum development specialist at American Association of Post Acute Care Nursing (AAPACN) in Denver.
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