OASIS Alert

Published on Fri Jul 10, 2009 PDF

Scenario: As part of the assessment in a physical therapy-only case, the therapist collects and initially reviews the patient's medications. The agency procedure then has the nurse in the office perform the final review of the medication sheet to identify drug interactions or other issues.

Question: What is the correct answer for M0090 (Date assessment completed)?

A) The date the therapist compiles and reviews the medication list within the comprehensive assessment.

B) The date the nurse does the final review of the medications.

C) The date the nurse tells the therapist the results of the medication review.

Answer: C. The correct date for M0090 "is the date that the last piece of information necessary to complete the comprehensive assessment is gathered," advises the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in its answer to Question 4 of the July 21 OASIS questions and answers. The HHA conditions of participation covering the comprehensive assessment require a drug regimen review each time CMS requires such an assessment, the answer explains. This review includes identifying drug-drug interactions and other drug issues.

So if the therapist relies on the nurse to do part of the drug regimen review, the M0090 date is when the nurse communicates the results of the review back to the therapist, who is responsible for the entire assessment, CMS says.

Caveat: This assumes the therapist has collected all the other information by this time, CMS notes.