07/16/2026

MDS Question of the Month

Questions about coding the Minimum Data Set can be difficult to resolve. The Ohio Resident Assessment Instrument coordinator’s Question of the Month provides answers to common coding questions and gives providers an opportunity to submit questions for future guidance. The July 2026 Question of the Month document is attached.

GG0130, Self-Care, and GG0170, Mobility Admission

Question: A resident was admitted Dec. 10, 2025. A five-day Prospective Payment System Minimum Data Set assessment was scheduled with a late assessment reference date of Dec. 24, 2025. Therapy and nursing completed Section GG assessments on Dec. 10, 11 and 12.

Because the assessments were completed during the first three days of the resident’s Medicare stay, may the facility use them to complete GG0130, Self-Care, and GG0170, Mobility admission items? Or should the items be coded using information from the look-back period associated with the late assessment reference date?

Answer: The facility may use the assessments completed during the first three days of the Medicare Part A stay. For residents in a Medicare Part A stay, the Section GG admission assessment period is the first three days of the stay, beginning with the date entered in A2400B, Start of Most Recent Medicare Stay.

Facilities should note that if the late assessment reference date was not set while the resident was still in the Medicare Part A stay, the assessment may not be completed.

H0100, Appliances

Question: Should a rectal tube be coded in H0100, Appliances? If so, which item should be used? How should bowel continence be coded when the rectal tube was present throughout the entire seven-day look-back period?

Answer: Rectal tubes and fecal bags are not coded on the MDS. If the rectal tube was present throughout the entire look-back period, code H0400, Bowel Continence, as 9, not rated.

M1200E, Pressure Ulcer/Injury Care

Question: May pressure ulcer treatment provided at an outside wound clinic during the seven-day look-back period be coded in M1200E, Pressure Ulcer/Injury Care?

Answer: Yes. An intervention may be coded on the MDS when it was performed outside the facility, including at a wound clinic, when the treatment occurred after admission and within the look-back period.

The facility must have verifiable documentation, such as physician orders, treatment records or clinic notes.

Receive the Question of the Month

Organizations may add MDS coordinators, social services directors, dietary managers and other staff involved in MDS coding to the monthly distribution list. To subscribe, email Cheryl Moya and use “Question of the Month” in the subject line. Include the subscriber’s name, title, email address and facility name in the message.

Questions for a future edition may be submitted to the same email address with “Question of the Month” in the subject line.