OASIS Alert

Published on Wed Nov 03, 2004 PDF

Consider this scenario: You care for a home health patient for several weeks, but then the patient is readmitted to the hospital. You complete a transfer OASIS. When the patient returns home the physician's orders discharge her from home care and she begins outpatient therapy. What OASIS action do you need to take?

Choose one of the following answers:

a) Unlock the transfer OASIS and change it to a discharge OASIS.

b) Complete a discharge OASIS based on the last visit.

c) Take no OASIS action, but discharge the patient according to your agency's policies and procedures.



The correct answer is (c). When you transferred the patient to the hospital and completed the transfer OASIS, you reported OASIS data at that point, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services explains in its OASIS questions and answers. If the patient is discharged at the end of the hospital stay, you are not expected to do any further OASIS assessments or report any more data unless you resume caring for the patient, CMS instructs. But you will need to follow your agency's procedures for discharge from the agency, experts say.