In a memo to its provider members, LeadingAge has warned that overuse of dash marks in MDS 3.0 assessments could result in the lowering of a facility’s quality measure resident sample.

This could inaccurately reflect a facility’s improvement over time, the organization cautioned. Preliminary data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reveals that approximately 40% of assessments have inappropriate dashes. For example, quality measures are based on resident interviews. CMS found that in some cases, entire interview sections were dashed out when the interviews were not completed. CMS emphasizes that if resident interviews cannot be completed, staff interviews should be completed to the fullest extent possible.