In response to stakeholder concerns, CMS is delaying the MDS 3.0 v1.18.1 release, which had been scheduled for Oct 1, 2020. CMS posted a draft of the MDS 3.0 item set v1.18.0 in Dec 2019, causing distress across the industry. In return, CMS stated:

We would like to thank the stakeholders for sharing their concerns regarding the proposed changes to the MDS 3.0 item sets and more specifically the removal of the Section G items from OBRA assessments.

The MDS changes CMS planned for October 1, 2020 will now be delayed. CMS staff are actively engaged in discussions with various stakeholders, regarding the various changes, the impacts of these changes, as well as, the compressed timeline to educate and train facility staff and update software and IT systems.

For questions regarding this information, please contact  MDSCodinganswers@cms.hhs.gov.

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