The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the October 2023 Quarterly Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS)-E Questions and Answers (Q&A). The document is available here, and the quarterly list of Q&A documents is here.

Several questions in this Q&A address observation stays, wheelchair use, and falls:

• If a home health patient is admitted to a hospital for greater than 24 hours, but the stay was later changed to an observation stay, a Transfer OASIS would not be required. CMS adds that agencies should reach out to the hospital utilization department to be advised on what type of bed and services the patient utilized.
• For GG0170R – Wheel 50 feet with two turns, CMS clarifies that the two 90-degree turns included in this item can be done at any point within the 50-foot distance.
• For M1033 – Risk for Hospitalization, response 1, CMS clarifies that for the coding purposes, falls are defined as an unintentional change in position and are not the result of anticipated loss of balance resulting from supervised therapeutic interventions where the patient's balance is being purposefully tested.
• For M1033 – Risk for Hospitalization, response 3, CMS clarifies that admissions to an inpatient rehabilitation hospital or unit, an inpatient psychiatric hospital, or a long term care hospital (LTCH) are excluded from the definition of response 3 (multiple hospitalizations (two or more) in the past six months).

Contact: Meg Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871