I have always understood that once a chewing or swallowing problem, always a chewing or swallowing problem.
--- On Fri 02/20, dawn < [EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote:
From: dawn [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:31:24 -0500 Subject: Re: Section K
I seem to recall a Q&A last year...maybe 2 years ago. You code chewing problem on MDS if on a mechanically altered diet, regardless. Anybody out there, please correct me...... Of course I keep all that at work.
Your director needs to talk with a speech therapist. Mechanically altered diets include Mech Soft, Pureed, etc. and can be as much for swallowing problems as for chewing. I would not code chewing unless there was a chewing problem. This would be like assuming just because a resident has difficulty lying flat they have copd.
