OASIS Strategies for Accurate Functional Scores
Understanding the importance of having an accurate functional score in PDGM is important, but HHAs must know HOW to accomplish it. Here are my top suggestions for the most accurate functional scores;
- Devise and teach a “best practice workflow” OASIS protocol for your agency and require clinicians to follow it
- Instruct clinicians to always have their patients actually attempt to DO the activities on the OASIS, never rely solely on a verbal report
- Consider live QA- this is the only way to “supervise” the OASIS process in real time
- Equip your quality assurance team to have “the last word” in OASIS scoring
Owners and administrators may be uncomfortable with the last point. But the quality assurance team is the key to your ability to stay viable in PDGM. These individuals, who have been trained in compliance and OASIS interpretation must be utilized like no other time before the PDGM. When quality assurance is equipped with the OASIS Training Manual-Chapter 3 as the last word, rather than subjective OASIS opinions, HHAs see great improvements in their OASIS accuracy. This is the way to win the “it’s my license” debate with field staff, who may be slowly draining profit margins and leaving your agency with fewer resources to care for patients.
