Submitted by Jennifer Raymond, Therapy Resource – Northern CA
During a recent NorCal Weekly DOR call, a question came up that prompted discussion regarding how Section GG scores are being determined when there is a discrepancy between Nursing and Therapy.
When we have differences between Nursing and Therapy scoring for GG, this must be reconciled per the RAI MDS manual criteria by answering the following question:
“What is the usual/baseline performance (days 1, 2, 3) BEFORE therapeutic interventions occurred?”
We cannot average or modify the assist levels that have been documented but instead through discussion and chart review need to determine which of those scores best represents the “usual/baseline performance” for this patient before the onset of any therapeutic intervention.
Therapy/MDS folks are clearly collaborating well to compare Nursing/Therapy documentation as part of the daily technical GG process. The next step is to ensure that when these values differ we are determining which documented assist level best describes the patients’ usual/baseline performance at the time of admission and discharge and are recording that score on the MDS.
Thank you NorCal DORs for bringing up this important topic.
Please reach out to your MDS/Therapy resources if you have additional questions and share this info with your Daily Technical Team!