News for MDS Experts
Check out our insightful articles and current social feed of news that’s important to MDS Coordinators.
Our Latest Articles
How the MDS is Utilized During the Survey Process
Have you ever wondered how the survey team determines which residents they will focus on during a standard survey in the skilled nursing facility/long term care facility (SNF/LTC)? The answers...
Fall MDS Updates are Here!
October 1 is typically when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) institutes changes to the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) and Minimum Data Set (MDS) – and this year is no...
Medicaid PDPM Is Coming: What Skilled Nursing Facilities Need to Know
Beginning October 1, 2025, many nursing homes will adopt a new reimbursement model for Medicaid residents: the Patient-Driven Payment Model, or Medicaid PDPM. While PDPM has been in place for...
🚨The SNF Provider Preview Reports have been updated and are now available. These reports contain provider performance scores for quality measures, which will be published on the compare tool on cstu.io/b08db9 and the Provider Data Catalog (PDC) during the January 2026 release.
Data contained within the Provider Preview Reports are based on quality assessment data submitted by SNFs from Quarter 2, 2024 through Quarter 1, 2025.
The COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients/Residents Who Are Up to Date measure and CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among Healthcare Personnel (HCP) measure reflect data from Quarter 1, 2025.
The Influenza Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel measure from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reflect data from Quarter 4, 2024 through Quarter 1, 2025.
The claims-based measures are based on data from Quarter 4, 2022 through Quarter 3, 2024.
The SNF Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) measure reflect data from Quarter 4, 2023 through Quarter 3, 2024.
𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝟭𝟳, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱, 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙖.
Login to iQIES to access the reports. cstu.io/7d0e68 ... See MoreSee Less
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𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗻?
Dec 9 | 11:00 a.m. ET
OIG work plans, MDS + QMs, top CMS deficiencies, and how to plan without burning out your team.
Our educators will walk through what’s coming and how to get ready.
𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱: Administrators, DONs, NACs/MDS Coordinators, Clinical Nurse Managers, IDT.
👉 Don’t see a Register button? This session is for MDS Experts members. Join MDS Experts to get access to all webinars.
cstu.io/8198d5
#LongTermCare #SNF #MDS #RAI #QMs #OIG #Compliance #Leadership #QAPI ... See MoreSee Less
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Happy Friday, LTC friends 💛
Long week? Same here. Thanks for showing up for residents and for each other. Be gentle with your shoulders, your feet, and your inbox tonight.
Rest is part of good care.
See you Monday.
#LongTermCare #SNF #MDS #Rai #nurselife #Teamwork ... See MoreSee Less
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📢𝗜𝗖𝗬𝗠𝗜: The OIG (Office of Inspector General) released CMS’s Special Focus Facility Program for Nursing Homes Has Not Yielded Lasting Improvements Report on 10/29/2025. The OIG found "The SFF program is not working because most nursing homes that graduate from the program do not keep the improvements they made over the long term. Between 2013 and 2022, nearly two-thirds of the nursing homes that were in the SFF program improved enough to graduate but soon afterward showed the type of quality problems that put them in the SFF program in the first place."
𝗢𝗜𝗚 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀:
1. Impose more nonfinancial enforcement remedies that encourage sustained compliance
2. Assess the extent to which it took enhanced enforcement actions for SFF graduates and the effectiveness of those actions, particularly for graduates that received a deficiency for staffing
3. Incorporate nursing home ownership information into the SFF program, such as in selecting SFFs and identifying patterns of poor performance
cstu.io/de4349
cstu.io/7c1f0c
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We’re seeing a lot of movement on SNF Validation. McKnight’s shared timely insight from our team yesterday, and we hosted a live session on what to expect and how to prep.
👉https://cstu.io/9b298e
𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗲-𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸: 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆?
Members can watch yesterday’s replay. Not a member? Subscribe to MDS Update for step-by-step prep.
👉www.mds-consultants.com
#LongTermCare #SNF #MDS #QRP #VBP #Compliance ... See MoreSee Less
Home
cstu.io
Discover invaluable resources to master MDS including weekly webinars, guides and tools and an expert forum on this MDS resource site.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
𝗡𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳, 𝗻𝗼 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀:
MDS data powers payment, quality, care plans, and survey readiness. Keep it tight: in-window proof, the right ICD-10, and IDT agreement.
#SNF #MDS #Rai #compliance ... See MoreSee Less
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𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿?
Here’s what we covered:
- SNF Validation Program
- MDS items CMS will look at
- How to get your team ready
🔐 Members can watch on-demand in MDS Experts.
Subscribe to MDS Update for CMS memos, and our Tuesday webinar line up lineup: cstu.io/9d2ecf
#LongTermCare #SNF #MDS #RAI #Compliance #QRP #VBP ... See MoreSee Less
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To our Veteran residents, staff, family members, and partners—thank you for your service and sacrifice.
We’re honored to serve you. 🇺🇸
#VeteransDay #ThankYouVeterans #LongTermCare ... See MoreSee Less
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𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱- 𝗨𝗽𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗡𝗙 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁
CMS is launching SNF Validation Program audits this fall to verify the accuracy of MDS coding used in QRP and VBP.
𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁-𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆?
Whether you're an MDS Coordinator, Administrator, DON, or part of the IDT—this session breaks down what's coming, what’s being audited, and how to prepare.
𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻:
- How the SNF Validation Program works
- Which MDS data elements will be under scrutiny
- How to prepare your facility for compliance
🎓 Presented by:
Jessica Stucin, RN, BSN, LNHA, RAC-MT, RAC-CT, RAC-CTA, QCP
Kristine Martinez, RN, BSN, DNS-CT, RAC-CT, RAC-CTA, QCP
Secure your seat and get ahead of the audit curve.
👉https://www.mdsexpert.com/webinars-training/
#MDS #PDPM #SNFAudits #CMSCompliance #SkilledNursing #LongTermCare #QRP #VBP #CMSAudits ... See MoreSee Less
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