MDS Consultants

MDS Consultants Get expert, practical help for your facility.

MDS Consultants makes your team more proficient in skilled MDS documentation, ICD-10 coding, Interim Payment Assessments, Medicare regulations, reimbursement maximization and PDPM.

10/24/2025

๐—œ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜†.
May your to-do list be short, be light, your census stable, and your weekend plans intact.

Youโ€™ve got this. ๐Ÿ™Œ

10/23/2025

๐Ÿšจ ICD-10 Accuracy = PDPM Integrity

Did you know? The Primary Diagnosis in I0020B drives the PDPM clinical category, but it must be supported by:
โœ” Physician documentation
โœ” Active condition relevance
โœ” RAI guidelines (Chapter 3)
โœ” No โ€œsymptom codesโ€

If it's not clinically supported, it doesnโ€™t belong on the MDS.
Accuracy protects compliance and your reimbursement.

Need a diagnosis review process? We can help.

๐Ÿ“ฉ Contact us to learn more.
https://cstu.io/9c26b7

๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—ฉ๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—˜๐——: Contingency Plans โ€“ State Survey & Certification Activities in the Event of Federal Government Shutdown, QSO Re...
10/22/2025

๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—ฉ๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—˜๐——: Contingency Plans โ€“ State Survey & Certification Activities in the Event of Federal Government Shutdown, QSO Ref: QSO-26-01-ALL. Released 10/21/2025. https://cstu.io/d315ab

10/21/2025

๐—š๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜? ๐Ÿงญ

Per the RAI Userโ€™s Manual, the ICD-10 code in I0020B should reflect the primary reason for the residentโ€™s SNF stay during the look-back, not a historical or resolved condition.

Code active conditions only, those evaluated, monitored, or treated and supported in the record.

๐Ÿ‘‰ Need help tightening your process? Schedule a brief consultation to review your I0020B approach.

10/20/2025

๐—ข๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿด | ๐—š๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—›๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐— ๐——๐—ฆ ๐— ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐Ÿ‘ป

MDS accuracy is a regulatory requirement. Inaccurate assessments can lead to citations, affect care plans, quality of care, and behavioral health, and result in civil penalties. This webinar reviews commonly miscoded MDS data elements and ways to avoid these errors.

๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ป:

- Regulatory requirements for the RAI process and accurate assessments
- Frequently identified MDS errors and their impact
- Strategies to prevent and mitigate MDS coding errors

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ: Administrators, Regional Directors, Directors of Nursing Services, Nurse Assessment Coordinators, MDS Coordinators, and MDS Interdisciplinary Team members.

๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: Kristine Martinez, RN, BSN, DNS-CT, RAC-CT, RAC-CTA, QCP

๐Ÿ‘‰ Register to receive your personal login link.
https://cstu.io/2aa1ec

To every nurse, NAC, and IDT member closing the week strong, thank you. ๐Ÿซถ
10/17/2025

To every nurse, NAC, and IDT member closing the week strong, thank you. ๐Ÿซถ

10/16/2025

Clarification (per CMS QSO-26-01):
The shutdown pause applies to some State Survey & Certification activitiesโ€”not to your facility duties.

You must still complete:
โ€ข MDS assessments on time and accurately
โ€ข Medicare Part A certifications/recertifications for SNF stays
โ€ข Routine documentation, orders, and submissions.

In short: Surveys may slow. Your MDS and Medicare certs do not. Keep coding and submitting as usual.

10/16/2025

๐— ๐˜†๐˜๐—ต: If itโ€™s on the problem list, it goes on MDS.

๐—™๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜: RAI wants active diagnoses, conditions that have been evaluated/treated or affecting care in the look-back period (and reflected in the plan).

๐—ฆ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ.

๐—›๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ผ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚โ€™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜? ๐——๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€.

The Internet Quality Improvement & Evaluation System (iQIES) Survey and Certification (S&C) Electronic Plan of Correctio...
10/15/2025

The Internet Quality Improvement & Evaluation System (iQIES) Survey and Certification (S&C) Electronic Plan of Correction (ePOC): Provider ePOC Administrator Role User Manual Version 1.3 October 1, 2025. This user manual addresses the processes necessary to perform Survey & Certification (S&C) Electronic Plan of Correction (ePOC) functions in iQIES.
https://cstu.io/919b58
https://cstu.io/ae5dd6

10/15/2025

New Tuesday Tip: A 45 second walkthrough of ICD-10, Section I: active diagnosis, primary selection, and pitfalls to avoid.

Want backup on coding? MDS Consultants can help.

10/14/2025

๐—š๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜?

๐Ÿ“Œ Postโ€“Oct 1 PDPM mapping shifts are tripping up primaries and triggering RTP messages.

๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†?

Comment โ€œ๐—œ๐—–๐——๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌโ€ for details.

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105 Pearl Street
Marilla, NY
14103

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