DOH Issues New Policies Regarding UAS-NY
The Department of Health (DOH) recently issued two policy documents related to the Uniform Assessment System for New York (UAS-NY) – one on procedures for using a paper version of the assessment, and the other on maintaining accurate case lists.
Per the Jan. 29th policy documents, all long term care programs and plans are required to conduct the UAS-NY Community Assessment and Pediatric Assessments using either the UAS-NY Online or Offline Application.
The guidance identifies the only circumstances under which an assessment may be conducted by a Registered Nurse (assessor) or Social Worker (assessor) using the paper version of the assessment with their supervisor’s approval:
- During times of unscheduled UAS-NY Online Application outages.
- When an assessor experiences an unexpected technical failure while conducting an assessment in a person’s home or community-based environment.
Also, all organizations that access the UAS-NY for the purpose of conducting the UAS-NY Community Assessment or Pediatric Assessments or reviewing associated data are required to build and accurately maintain a case list. The subset of UAS-NY case file records that an organization has a legitimate business need to access comprise its organization’s case list. Organizations are required to attest to a legitimate business need to access individual UAS records, and when that legitimate business need no longer exists, organizations must ensure that business processes are in place so that programs and plans remain compliant with HIPAA, HITECH, and state and federal privacy laws. The guidance identifies issues that agencies may encounter with case lists and how to address them.
In addition, the policy document discusses how enrolling programs and plans (Managed Long Term Care and Managed Care Plans, Adult Day Health Care Programs, Assisted Living Programs, Local Districts of Social Services, and Regional Resource Development Centers) are required to maintain accurate enrollments and disenrollments in member records. It gives examples of enrollment issues and actions that organizations must take.
If UAS users need assistance on these issues, they should contact the UAS-NY Support Desk at 518-408-1021; email notifications will not be accepted. The UAS-NY Support Desk will work with the user (and supervisor, if necessary) to resolve the reported issues.
Please see the policy documents here.
Contact: Meg Carr Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871