RE: therapy minutes--try again

[Denise]

I am a therapist and was a regional manager (as a Rehab manager and a Clinical Reimbursement manager) for a nursing home company. I think that the therapist and the regional are miss informed. They should have let you know about the lowering of minutes and you should have been able to adjust the ARD to capture the higher RUG group. The Rehab people (like many rehab people, and I can say that because I am one of them) have a lot of learning to do in regard to the MDS payment system. Good Luck! Denise   -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joyce Nicholson Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 1:27 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: therapy minutes--try again   I questioned our lead therapist last week about several resident's who had missed a therapy RUG group by 10-15 minutes, wanting to know why she hadn't brought it to my attention so that the assessment period could be adjusted to capture the minutes. She told me that she was purposely lowering the minutes during the assessment period because one of the two disciplines was planning on discharging the resident the following week or so, and the lower RUG group would better reflect what services would be given. My response was that per MDS rules, we should code the services given now, not what we think might occur within the next month. The therapist brought in her regional boss and they are insisting that if we don't "taper" the minutes to reflect what is expected to occur during the payment period, then we are opening ourselves up for Medicare auditing and could be seen as being fraudulent. What are your thoughts? Scope out the new MSN Plus Internet Software — optimizes dial-up to the max! /---------------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------------/