With the implementation of the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) now fully under way for the Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun turning the attention of nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) toward a new slate of changes that will implement this October 1, 2020. In December, CMS posted the draft version 1.18.0 MDS item sets, and in January, the agency followed up with the release of the 43-page MDS 3.0 Item Set Change History for October 2020 Version 1.18.0, which lays out—item by item—what new or revised items will be added to which item sets, as well as what items will be deleted from which item sets.

Changes will occur in the following MDS sections: