Come January 2010, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will unveil the new OASIS C with 47 new questions. For the uninitiated, OASIS C is the latest version of the OASIS data set, which replaces the current OASIS B1. January is certainly drawing near, but are you ready for the sea of changes that OASIS C will bring forth with it? What are the new processes that CMS is adding to it?
Among the many changes, a new item called a plan of care synopsis should be watched out for. Also, CMS has said that there won't be any immediate impact on payment.
Many home health agencies are apprehensive about the transition to the new OASIS C changes, which is being touted as the biggest change since its inception in 1999.
Although the new changes will carry with it lots of challenges for home health agencies, getting the right know-how will certainly help them make the transition with ease. CMS has come up with various documents to help home health agencies in this direction: OASIS-C August 2009 version, OASIS-C Manual, OASIS-C: Changes from OASIS-B1 and OASIS-C Q&A. Apart from these documents, audio conferences can also be beneficial in helping them make a smooth transition to OASIS C