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Due to overwhelming interest from skilled nursing facility operators, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has added a training conference call on changes related to MDS 3.0 on Sept. 1.

The first call will be Tuesday, Aug. 23, with CMS discussing skilled nursing facility payment changes for fiscal year 2012 based on the new MDS 3.0 assessment system. It will be from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. (Eastern). Subject matter experts will address topics such as allocation of group therapy; student supervision; changes to the MDS assessment schedule; end of therapy (EOT); other Medicare required assessment (OMRA) clarifications; change of therapy OMRA and other topics. A presentation will be viewable prior to the call here.

Since all 7,000 lines for the August call filled quickly, CMS will convert its Sept. 1 SNF Open Door Forum to an additional training session. Interested parties can check here and here for updates from CMS.