Tell your medical records consultant to be learey of what she hears at seminars but has not been confirmed by CMS. The manual and the MDS states to code the frequency of pain which, in your case, would be a "2" for daily and then to code the intensity which would be "3" for severe pain.
No where in the manual does it state to code the frequency based on the severity. I would continue to code per manual instructions. Brenda W. Chance, RN, RAC-C MDS Coordinator CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. -----Original Message----- From: Sally Murphy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 3:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Pain coding on MDS Our medical records consultant is here today and informs us that at a recent seminar it was pointed out that if a resident has moderate pain on 6 out of 7 days and severe pain on the other day that it should be coded 1/3, pain less than daily and severe. I find no instructions or examples in the RAI Manual that instruct us to do that. After all, the resident DID have pain daily. I have always coded 2/3 in that instance. What do you think? Thanks, Sally /---------------------------------------------------------- The Case Mix Discussion Group is a free service of the American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators "Committed to the Assessment Professional" Be sure to visit the AANAC website. Accurate answers to your questions posted to NAC News and FAQs. For more info visit us at http://www.aanac.org -----------------------------------------------------------/ /---------------------------------------------------------- The Case Mix Discussion Group is a free service of the American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators "Committed to the Assessment Professional" Be sure to visit the AANAC website. Accurate answers to your questions posted to NAC News and FAQs. For more info visit us at http://www.aanac.org -----------------------------------------------------------/
