Federal regulators released the final version of the MDS
3.0 on Thursday, a week before they will hold a special, informational Open
Door Forum on it.
Unlike past Open Door Forums, the Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services is requesting advance registration for next week's
session. Registration will close at 3 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Wednesday (Jan.
23). Extra phone lines have been added to accommodate the anticipated high
volume of participants.
According to an introduction to the MDS 3.0 found on
CMS's website, "revisions have been based on feedback from MDS users,
resident advocates and families, input from subject-area experts, and new
knowledge and evidence about resident assessment.
"MDS 3.0 aims to increase the clinical relevance,
accuracy and efficiency of assessments, obtain information directly from
residents, include assessment items used in other care-settings, and move items
toward future electronic health record formats," according to an
introduction to MDS 3.0 on the CMS Web site.
Next on the MDS 3.0 timeline is the MDS 2.0/MDS 3.0
crosswalk to states, providers and vendors, scheduled for sometime this spring.
The latest MDS 3.0 documents can be viewed at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NursingHomeQualityInits/Downloads/MDS30DraftVersion.pdf