On October 6, 2014, the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (the IMPACT Act) was signed into law. The Act requires the submission of standardized data by post-acute providers, including Home Health Agencies. The Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) prescribes standardized data for Home Health Agencies.

The IMPACT Act requires reporting standardized patient assessment data regarding quality measures and standardized patient assessment data elements (SPADEs). The Act also requires the submission of data about measure domains related to resource use and other domains. In addition, the IMPACT Act requires assessment data to be standardized and interoperable to allow for the exchange of the data among post-acute providers and other providers. The Act intends for standardized post-acute care data to improve Medicare beneficiary outcomes through shared decision-making, care coordination, and enhanced discharge planning.

The Meaningful Measure priority areas are

Promote effective communication and coordination of care
Promote effective prevention and treatment of chronic disease
Work with communities to promote best practices of healthy living
Make care affordable
Make care safer by reducing harm and cost in the delivery of care
Strengthen person and family engagement as partners in their care

Quality Measure Domains

Skin integrity and changes in skin integrity
Functional status, cognitive function, and changes in function and cognitive function
Medication reconciliation
Incidence of major falls
Transfer of health information and care preferences when an individual transitions

CMS introduced OASIS-E changes for Home Health Agencies to meet the requirements of the IMPACT Act and improve interoperability among the post-acute continuum. After delaying the implementation of OASIS-E changes due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, CMS has announced that OASIS-E changes will be implemented as of January 1, 2023. Home Health Agencies should understand the extent of OASIS-E changes and plan to implement them.

The software platform will play a critical role in helping Home Health Agencies to implement OASIS-E changes. Agencies should check with their software vendors to understand their plans to accommodate OASIS-E, make sure their plan will meet the requirements, and adjust their process accordingly.

This blog reviews the functions needed to support your transition to OASIS-E.

How can your software help with OASIS-E?

OASIS-E changes represent the most significant changes since OASIS was introduced in 1999. OASIS-E changes will standardize patient assessment data elements, facilitate the exchange of information, submission of Quality Measures and improve patient outcomes.

Home Health Agency Management Software platforms should add new functions and/or enhance current functions to assist agencies in transitioning to OASIS-E without significant disruptions in operations. These enhancements should help home health agencies to reduce the time to complete OASIS assessments, improve interoperability, and Transfer Health information.

The following are some of the areas Home Health Agency Management Software can help agencies with the transition to OASIS-E.

SPADE Elements: CMS has introduced many elements to meet IMPACT Act requirements to use Standardized Patient Assessment Elements (SPADEs) to improve interoperability, quality of care, and patient safety. Software platforms should allow the agencies to collect race, ethnicity, and language information during the referral and intake process and default these values to integrated assessments at the point of care. This information will help agencies reduce the time clinicians spend completing the assessment and improve the accuracy of the information.

Integrated Assessments: Software should incorporate all the new elements and reorganize Integrated OASIS Assessments to accommodate the flow of OASIS-E Sections. The following are some of the areas Agency Management Software can help with integrated assessments to save time and improve accuracy and quality.

Default values: Default values for elements from information already available.
Skip Patterns: Incorporate skip patterns to skip certain areas during assessment based on answers
Built-in Scoring: The ability to automatically calculate scores will help clinicians to save time during patient assessment
Configurable Consistency Check: Configurable consistency checks will enable agencies to incorporate education, quality assurance, and accuracy of information during the assessment process

Medication Reconciliation: Medication Reconciliation is an ongoing process from intake through discharge or transfer, not just a step at the time of discharge. Software should enable home health agencies to enter patient medications at the time of intake and make it available for clinicians to review and update the list during SOC assessment. Software should make it easy for clinicians to review and update the medication list during each visit keeping it current. Producing Patient Friendly Medication List and transmitting it to other providers and/or patients will help agencies save time and improve medication list accuracy.

Transfer of Health Information: Home Health Agency Management Software should have the ability to produce reconciled and accurate patient medication lists and transfer the list to other providers and/or patients. The following are some of the options that will help agencies.

Patient Friendly Medication List
Integrated eFax to fax the list to providers
Direct Messages to electronically send the list to other providers or HIE
Family Portals for patients to view their current medication list

Problem Area Triggers: Configurable problem area triggers will detect potential risk areas and inconsistencies during clinical documentation and alert the clinicians at the point of care. Configurability will allow home health agencies to incorporate their quality assurance process at the point of care.

PDGM Calculation: Software platforms should incorporate OASIS-E changes in their PDGM calculations to help agencies to maintain their cash flow during the transition to OASIS-E.

Home Health Agencies should reach out to their software vendors to understand their plans for OASIS-E and adjust OASIS-E transition plans accordingly.

About CareVoyant

CareVoyant is a leading provider of cloud-based integrated enterprise-scale home health care software that can support all home-based services under ONE Software, ONE Patient, and ONE Employee, making it a Single System of Record. We support all home based services, including Home Care, Private Duty Nursing, Private Duty Non-Medical, Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), Home Health, Pediatric Home Care, and Outpatient Therapy at Home.

CareVoyant functions – Intake, Authorization Management, Scheduling, Clinical with Mobile options, eMAR/eTAR, Electronic Visit Verification (EVV), Billing/AR, Secure Messaging, Notification, Reporting, and Dashboards – streamline workflow, meet regulatory requirements, improve quality of care, optimize reimbursement, improve operational efficiency and agency bottom line.

For more information, please visit CareVoyant.com or call us at 1-888-463-6797.