News for MDS Experts
Check out our insightful articles and current social feed of news that’s important to MDS Coordinators.
Our Latest Articles
From Orders to Action: Aligning Care Plans and Psychotropic Medications
Critical Element Pathways (CEPs) are tools in the Long-Term Care State Operations Manual (SOM) that are developed by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and utilized by surveyors along with...
F641 in Plain English – How Interview Accuracy Protects Your CMI
When surveyors look at MDS accuracy, they’re not just checking boxes – they’re looking at whether the assessment truly reflects the resident. F641 holds the interdisciplinary team and nursing...
From Coding to Compliance: Avoiding Pitfalls in the 2026 MDS Landscape
With the numerous regulatory bodies that govern long term care (LTC) and skilled nursing facilities (SNF), it is easy to feel like there is no end to the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) and...
𝗣𝗗𝗣𝗠 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 — 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀.
A recent case involving a New York nursing facility has drawn attention across the long-term care industry after an OIG audit of PDPM claims led to a proposed $31 million Medicare recoupment, with the provider now challenging the findings in federal court.
While the case will ultimately be decided through the legal process, it highlights several issues providers are watching closely:
• Increased OIG scrutiny of PDPM claims
• The potential use of extrapolation in audit findings
• Ongoing questions surrounding COVID-era waivers and documentation practices
• The importance of accurate MDS coding and supporting clinical documentation
With additional PDPM audits reportedly underway, many facilities are taking the opportunity to review their PDPM coding processes, supporting documentation, and internal monitoring practices.
At MDS Consultants, we’ve developed practical resources to support facilities as they evaluate their PDPM processes. If you’re reviewing your systems, take a look at our PDPM Scorecards and PDPM Audit Tool, designed to help teams assess documentation alignment and coding accuracy.
Check out our tools: cstu.io/3e912d
Check out the article: cstu.io/0f3475
#LongTermCare
#PDPM
#MDS
#HealthcareCompliance
#SkilledNursing
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Nursing home hit in first PDPM audit sues over OIG effort to ‘rewrite history’ with $31M recoupment
cstu.io
A nursing home found to have erred in 99 of 100 reimbursement submissions during the pandemic is fighting back against those findings — and an attempt by regulators to extrapolate audit results and ...0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Happy Friday!
Long-term care teams juggle a lot in a week — documentation, compliance, resident care, teamwork, and everything in between.
A big thank you to the nurses, administrators, MDS professionals, and interdisciplinary teams who keep things moving every day.
We hope everyone gets a chance to recharge this weekend!
#LongTermCare
#skillednursing
#HealthcareLeadership
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We’re looking forward to being at AAPACN this year.
Across multiple states, we’re continuing to see facilities work through PDPM refinements, documentation alignment challenges, and reimbursement trends that warrant closer attention.
If you’re attending, stop by Booth 314 to:
• Pick up a complimentary PDPM Score Card
• Talk through a documentation or coding concern
• Compare approaches to PDPM strategy
📍 Booth 314
We look forward to connecting.
#AAPACN #PDPM #MDS #LongTermCare #SNFLeadership #MDSCONSULTANTS #MDSSUPPORT #MDSTRAININGANDEDUCATION ... See MoreSee Less
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Join us as we celebrate our PAC Social Workers this March 2026. Social workers and/or designees in PAC have an immense impact on our residents within a SNF and/or long-term care facility. "Social Work Month was first celebrated in March 1963 to build public support for the profession. It has become an event celebrated by hundreds of thousands of social workers – and their supporters – each year.
This year’s theme is “Social Work: Uplift. Defend. Transform.” cstu.io/5f6093 ... See MoreSee Less
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QCP® isn’t just a certification — it’s a framework for building sustainable, survey-ready quality systems.
If your facility is ready to move from reactive compliance to proactive quality management, this workshop delivers practical structure your leadership team can actually use.
📅 QCP® | April 14–17, 2026
🖥️ Virtual | Eastern Time
🎓 15 Continuing Education Credits
🔗 Register here: learn.aapacn.org/products/qcp-certification-virtual-workshop-4142026-hosted-by-mds-consultants-ta...
Follow us for additional AAPACN certification opportunities throughout 2026.
#AAPACN #AAPACNTrainingPartner #QCP #QAPI #MDSConsultants #SNFEducation #LongTermCare #NurseLeadership #Compliance #QualityImprovement ... See MoreSee Less
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The March 2026 Quarterly Confidential Feedback Reports for the fiscal year (FY) 2027 Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Program are now available to download via the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES).
These reports contain consolidated summaries of SNFs’ historical measure results, performance scores, and incentive payment multipliers for the SNF VBP Program for the FY 2019 through FY 2026 Program years. SNFs may use this information to review and monitor their performance in the SNF VBP Program over time. The historical information in this report is available for reference and will not be used for future incentive payment calculations in the SNF VBP Program; therefore, it is not eligible for the SNF VBP Program’s Review and Correction process.
Log into to iQIES and go to My Reports-MDS 3.0 Provider Preview Reports to access.
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The February update of Appendix B to the MDS 3.0 RAI User’s Manual contains changes to the list of State RAI Coordinators, MDS Automation Coordinators, and CMS locations and contacts.
cstu.io/6d69bc
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The Survey and Certification User Manuals have been updated in iQIES. They were posted on 2/20/2026.
𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝟮.𝟯
𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝘃𝟮.𝟯
𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗟𝗧𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘃𝟭.𝟰
𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘃𝟮.𝟱
𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘃𝟮.𝟯
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The iQIES User Role Matrix job aid outlines the user roles and privileges in iQIES. All users must have a role in iQIES. Updated 219/2026 and posted 2/25/2026.
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