Texas MDS Links and Resources

MDS 3.0 Questions & Answers

The following questions and answers related to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Long-Term Care Resident Assessment Instrument User's Manual, Version 3.0, will be updated occasionally and will address Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 issues that are not directly answered by any CMS documents.

MDS 3.0 Requirements — Provider IDs, HIV/AIDS, Section S, RUGs, CMIs

Question: What are the Texas-specific requirements for MDS 3.0?
Answer: The Texas-specific requirements for MDS 3.0 can be found in Provider Letter #16-20 (PDF).

Section A — A0200 Type of Provider

Question: How does A0200 get corrected?
Answer: The QIES ASAP system (the CMS system that processes MDS) knows which providers are nursing facilities and which are swing bed facilities. If a nursing facility answers A0200 incorrectly, the submitted MDS will receive an error and be rejected. If that happens, correct A0200 in your software without using a Correction Form and resubmit the MDS.

To clarify the second paragraph of "Modification Requests" in the MDS 3.0 RAI Manual pages 5-10: You cannot modify A0100C, A0200 or A0410 in an MDS accepted into the QIES ASAP system no matter what (whether the accepted MDS is valid or invalid). An incorrect value in A0200 will cause a submitted MDS to be rejected, so it will never have to be modified. IF the MDS is invalid due to an incorrect A0100C or A0410 then a special manual correction request is required.

Section A — A0310 Type of Assessment

Question: When will the Type of Provider — PPS assessment — be an unscheduled assessment for PPS (A0310 B = 07)?
Answer:

  • Set A0310 B = 07 when the MDS is a start and/or end of therapy (A0310 C = 1, 2 or 3) and the MDS is not combined with a scheduled PPS assessment (A0310 B = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6).
  • Set A0310 B = 07 when the person is a Medicare resident as of the ARD of the MDS, the MDS is a significant change in status assessment or significant correction to prior comprehensive assessment (A0310 A = 4 or 5) and the MDS is not combined with a scheduled PPS assessment (A0310 B = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6).

Links

QIES Technical Support Office (QTSO) — information for connecting to MDS submission website.

CMS MDS website — CMS MDS 3.0 information.

Nursing Home Compare — CMS site that compares nursing homes in a given area.

Long-term Care Provider Search — Formerly called the Quality Reporting System, this site allows people not only to find a facility or provider in their area, but also to learn more about the providers and facilities.

Texas Medicaid RUG Rates — The Health and Human Services Rate Analysis Department develops reimbursement methodology rules for determining payment rates or rate ceilings for recommendation to HHSC for Medicaid payment rates and non-Medicaid payment rates for programs operated by HHSC and DFPS.

MDS 3.0 Section Q referral process — information about changes to relocation and referral processes in Texas driven by the MDS 3.0 item Q0500.