The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for the
first time is requesting advance registration for a nursing home "Open
Door Forum." The federal regulatory body will report results of its
five-year MDS 3.0 "validation" study at the forum at 1 p.m. (Eastern
time) on Jan. 24.
Registration is free but must be completed by 2 p.m.
(Eastern) on Jan. 22, officials said. Registration can be accomplished online
at https://registration.intercall.com/menu.php?short_name=cms2.
A regular Open Door forum that late last year unveiled
the implementation timeline for MDS 3.0 attracted well over 1,000 listeners and
attendees, dwarfing that of previous sessions.
The Minimum Data Set (MDS) is a critical tool for
facilities seeking reimbursement from government sources. The MDS has not seen
wide scale clinical updating as is proposed since 1995. The new MDS is
scheduled to begin implementation on Oct. 1, 2009.