OASIS-Central

The follow-up/recertification (FU) assessment must be completed when a patient is being recertified to continue care for additional episodes. The regulations require that a comprehensive assessment be completed at least every 60 days, and this must occur in the five-day window (days 56–60) before the end of the current episode.

Example

The start-of-care date of a patient is 01/15/10. The episode would be 01/15/10–03/15/10. The follow-up/recertification (FU) assessment should be completed in the last five days of the episode (03/11/10–03/15/10) to meet the requirement. There is only one situation in which this form is not required:

• A patient is transferred to the hospital on day 45 of the home health episode. The patient returns home from the hospital on day 58 of the episode. The agency intends to recertify the patient for an additional episode. The agency would complete only the resumption-of-care (ROC) assessment, and the information from that form would be the same information used to recertify the patient. Due to the elimination of the significant-change-in-condition (SCIC) adjustment, effective January 1, 2008, there would never be an occasion when both the FU and the ROC assessment would be completed.

The other follow-up (OFU) assessment is required when a patient experiences a change in condition that was not anticipated in the original plan of care. Some agencies never complete this form, but that failure is a huge compliance issue with OASIS regulations. The OASIS implementation manual emphasizes that a comprehensive assessment is required when there is a major decline or improvement in a patient’s health status, noted as a SCIC.

This is an excerpt from the book, Home Health Pocket Guide to OASIS-C: A Reference for Field Staff, Revised Edition by Melinda A. Gaboury, co-founder and CEO of Healthcare Provider Solutions, Inc.