UAS-NY Project Team Conducts Post Implementation Webinar for Region VI

Since April 1, 2013, all home and community based Medicaid long term care programs in the following counties have been using the Uniform Assessment System for New York (UAS-NY) for at least six months: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates. In addition, Broome, Chautauqua, Otsego and Warren counties, which participated in the UAS-NY pilot, have been using the UAS-NY even longer.

The UAS-NY Project Team conducted a six-month post implementation webinar on May 2, 2014 for organizations in these counties. The project staff began the webinar by expressing their appreciation to the providers for their positive response and willingness to be flexible with the training and implementation schedule.

Other highlights from the webinar:

Technical issues:

DOH mentioned that there were some “kinks” in the beginning especially with regard to the offline application, but those issues have since been resolved.
Assessors will receive an error if they use the “check missing” button in the assessment outcomes area. UAS-NY staff are aware of this and are currently working with IT developers to resolve the issue.

Training:

The UAS-NY training environment contains new resources and will continue to be updated periodically.
Providers are encouraged to use the UAS-NY user test for hands-on training and to use the UAS-NY Community Assessment Reference Manual for guidance. New users should be directed to the User Support Guide.
Providers were encouraged to continue to work with other staff who lack basic computer skills, to support users with computer upgrades when appropriate, and notify users about local settings and pop-up settings that may contribute to their frustration with the system.
Providers were strongly encouraged to update the HCS on a regular basis, by deleting accounts of staff who are no longer working in the organization.

Data quality and integrity:

Duplicate records have been an issue and multiple records can exist for one consumer. The causes range from difficulty sharing records with more than one assessor, lack of coordination among assessors, entering an incorrect date of birth or misspelling the consumer's name. UAS-NY roles have been revised and now only users with roles 15, 35 or 45 have the ability to create new records. Assessors were encouraged to contact the UAS-NY support desk to receive guidance in merging duplicate records when they are discovered.
Incomplete addresses on assessments are common. This can impact the various service areas and ad hoc reports. DOH’s recommendation was to validate addresses before finalizing each assessment, ensure complete address is entered when creating records, run the “address quality report” and update records accordingly.
Assessments are not always finalized. DOH is seeing assessments that are initiated but never completed or conducted but never signed. There is no specific timeline for completing an assessment, but assessors should strive to sign and finalize an assessment within a “reasonable timeframe”. DOH did not elaborate on what was considered a reasonable timeframe. They recommended that providers run the “assessments not finalized” report and review it to find out why certain assessments have not been finalized.
No supplements need to be completed for pediatric assessments.
Two signatures are required for completion – one for the assessment and one for the assessment outcomes. The assessment outcomes must be completed and signed before the assessment is considered complete.

Program/plan enrollment:

Organizations are not always enrolling consumers in a program or are enrolling them in the incorrect program. DOH recommends that providers run the “missing enrollment” and the “enrollment” reports to prevent this from happening in your organization.

Next Steps:

System enhancements – some required items will be removed from the assessment; a “readmission due date” report is being developed.
DOH is analyzing data based on assessments that have been collected thus far and conducting an inter-rater reliability study to ensure data quality and integrity.
DOH will begin offering “UAS-NY Savvy Sessions”, weekly webinars on various topics. A session is currently being planned on the use of reporting features.

For questions, contact the UAS-NY project staff at uasny@health.state.ny.us or at 518-408-1021.

A copy of the webinar slide presentation will be made available on the MRT website later this week. LeadingAge New York has also learned that DOH will be issuing further questions and answers regarding the Assisted Living Program (ALP) and the UAS-NY very soon.

Contact: Kathy Pellatt: kpellatt@leadingageny.org or 518-867-8848