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Integumentary Status (M0440-M0488) |
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Ask your most difficult OASIS questions and our OASIS experts will provide the answers. Now that CMS has posted the OASIS-C guidance manual, please submit any questions you have about...
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Ask your most difficult OASIS questions and our experts – Ann Rambusch and Judy Adams – will provide the answers. Important note: Now that OASIS-C is final, you also can submit your...
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Tattoos, piercings and moles are considered skin lesions in OASIS M0440 (Does this patient have a skin lesion or an open wound?), according to CMS. But CMS’s definition of a...
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Welcome to OASIS-C & Outcomes Solutions’ new monthly feature –“Ask the OASIS Experts.” Ask your most difficult OASIS questions and our experts – Ann Rambusch and Judy Adams – provide the answers.Q: M0560...
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Blisters should be reported as stage 2 pressure ulcers in OASIS M0450 unless they’re blood-filled, in which case they aren’t reported at all on the OASIS, according to CMS....
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There are different rules when it comes to coding a pressure ulcer and its stages and how to assess an ulcer in the OASIS – ensure your clinicians know the differences...
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A surgical wound that’s completely healed no longer qualifies as a wound in M0482 (Does this patient have a surgical wound?), but only a skilled clinical assessment can determine the...
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Surgical staples, stitches and/or retention sutures pulling against an incision and causing the surgical wound to separate, would not be considered new surgical wounds or pressure ulcers, a CMS official...
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A surgical wound can be considered fully healed and not reportable as a current surgical wound in M0482 (Does this patient have a surgical wound?) four weeks after complete epithelialization,...
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This table offers a quick review on how to code a patient that develops a wound caused by pressure from the retention sutures used to keep the wound together. It...
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CMS has confirmed that the presence of a “scab” doesnotmeet the WOCN criteria for reporting the wound as “not healing” in M0488. This is a retraction of CMS’ previous guidance...
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CMS has released new OASIS guidance related to how clinicians should answer M0488 for a surgical wound with a scab -- and it could mean the difference of more than $300...
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CMS is expected to issue new guidance on how clinicians should answer OASIS M0488 for a surgical wound with a scab, according to several industry insiders. The new guidance could...
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Chest tube sites are considered surgical wounds in OASIS M0482 (Does this patient have a surgical wound?), according to CMS’ latest guidance....
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Deciding when to answer “yes” on M0440 (“Does this patient have a Skin Lesion or an Open Wound?”) is actually a pretty easy task. That’s because there are more “skin...
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Now is the time to implement best practices for tracking and billing your supplies – PPS 2008 has tied payment to non-routine supplies....
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Surgical wounds create lots of anxiety among coders and clinicians. OASIS and the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society (WOCN) guidelines sometimes don’t fit with clinicians’ assessments....
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The ability to identify surgical wounds can impact your payments and outcomes. Here's a clinical competency quiz to check your clinicians' ability to identify surgical wounds when answering key OASIS...
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How well have your clinicians grasped the most recent CMS OASIS guidance clarifications related to key wound items that impact outcomes and payment? ...
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You could get downcoded for as many as 15 clinical domain points and lose as much as much as $900 per episode if you don't follow CMS's new guidance related...
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An incision and drainage (I&D) isn't considered a surgical wound for the purposes of answering M0482 (surgical wound). ...
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QUESTION:When a peripheral intravenous needle/catheter is removed, is the site considered a lesion in M0440 (skin lesion or open wound)? ...
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Clinicians may struggle during start-of-care OASIS assessments when trying to determine how functional their patients were 14 days prior to their home health admission. But CMS is considering making their...
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Are M0420 and M0430 asking the same thing? Does an insulin pump “count” in responding to M0250? Should a clinician consider the patient’s ability to perform bathing-related tasks, like gathering...
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Patient Scenario: A patient with a fresh new colostomy also has a long surgical incision (for the resecting of the bowel) that runs beyond the stoma. How do you answer...
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CPH last month advised you to remember that when coding, "once a decubitus ulcer, always a decubitus ulcer." Since then, CMS has issued guidelines that put a chink in that...
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Your patient has a burning heart tattooed across her bicep. Should it be the basis for checking off "yes" to OASIS question M0440 (presence of skin lesion/open wound)? ...
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Effective Sept. 1, HHAs will have to adhere to a new CMS policy change for accurate coding of OASIS pressure ulcer items. The previous guidance to not "reverse stage" a...
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Your clinicians are smart enough to know that a suprapubic bladder incision is a cystostomy, a.k.a. surgical opening to the bladder, and logically should be considered a surgical wound. But...
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Q: Your patient's foot was amputated due to circulatory problems, and home health is providing dressing changes. Would you use the ICD-9 CM code 892.0 (open wound of foot except...
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You probably wouldn't believe it if your HHA's nurses told you more than a third of your patients with congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease don't suffer shortness...
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It looks like yellow chicken fat. But if your clinicians aren't scouring their patients' wound beds for the gooey material called "slough," you could lose $1,200 per episode....
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If your clinicians don't answer "yes" to M0440 for almost all patients, they misunderstand the question....
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Prepare for confusion when your clinicians begin to fill out new OASIS "Recertification/Follow-Up" and "Other Follow-Up" assessment forms in late December and find familiar questions missing....
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CMS got an earful on OASIS Wednesday....
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Don't stop at comparing your home health agency's average case-mix weight to the national average [...hhl 3/8/02] to discover whether you're cheating yourself out of revenue under PPS....
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Right now, you could wind up searching as many as five different Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Web sites for guidance on one of the 23 OASIS questions...
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