AGING AND DISABILITY SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

2005 NH "Dear Administrator" Letters

August 30, 2005

ADSA: NH #2005-024
REVISIONS TO RAI USER’S MANUAL

Dear Nursing Facility/Home Administrator:

This letter contains important information for facility staff responsible for completing the Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessments.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the release of the fifth set of updates to the December 2002 revision of the Long Term Care Facility Resident Assessment Instrument User’s Manual Version 2.0. The changes, which include clarifications of existing policy, are effective August 12, 2005. The new section W Supplemental Items will be effective October 1, 2005.

The update document is 17 pages in length and includes the following:

• A one page revision table identifying the changes
• Replacement pages for the title page, table of contents page and Section T
• 7 pages describing the new supplement Section W
• 6 replacement pages for Appendix B

In addition to the manual updates, the MDS 2.0 form has been modified to include Section W. This new section is included with the entire MDS 2.0 but is on a separate page, dated May 2005 and appears directly after Section T.

The revisions and the MDS forms are available on the CMS website at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/quality/mds20.

If you have questions or need further information, please contact Marjorie Ray, RN, Washington State RAI Coordinator, at (360) 725-2487 or e-mail at rayma@dshs.wa.gov

Sincerely,

Joyce Pashley Stockwell, Director
Residential Care Services