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Upcoming Changes to MDS Assessments on the TMHP LTC Online Portal on October 1

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On October 1, 2023, the Texas Medicaid & Healthcare Partnership (TMHP) will implement the following changes to the Minimum Data Set (MDS) comprehensive and quarterly assessments on the Long-Term Care Online Portal (LTCOP).

TMHP will update 55 fields in the Resource Utilization Group (RUG) section to allow users to manually enter and validate data. Currently, these fields are read-only and autofilled with data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extract files. Following the update, the fields will no longer be autofilled on MDS Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) assessments with an assessment reference date (ARD) on or after October 1, 2023, and users will be required to enter the data into the LTCOP.

The following items in the RUG section will contain updated fields requiring that data be submitted manually:

  • D0200 Resident Mood Interview
  • D0300 Total Severity Score
  • G0110 Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Assistance
  • K0510 Nutritional Approaches
  • O0100 Special Treatments, Procedures and Programs
  • O0600 Physical Examinations
  • O0700 Physician Orders

Note: All other fields in the RUG section will continue to be autofilled and read-only.

Providers that are using a third-party vendor for long-term care Medicaid information (LTCMI) submissions must ensure that the vendor is aware of these changes and coordinate RUG field submission with them.

The LTCMI and RUG sections must be completed at the same time for the MDS to move forward in the Medical Necessity workflow. Failure to complete required fields in either section will result in submission errors.

Note: Users currently complete the LTCMI section on the LTCOP, and there will be no change to this process.

If you have questions, call the TMHP LTC Help Desk at 800-626-4117 (select option 1 and then option 7).