The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted the draft Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) User’s Manual version (v)1.20.1, which will be effective beginning October 01, 2025. Major changes in the draft RAI Manual include:
- Changes to Section A: Identification Information, including:
- The removal of item A0800: Gender, and addition of new item A0810: Sex.
- The removal of item A1250: Transportation.
- Section GG: Functional Abilities has been restructured to improve clarity for the items in GG0130: Self-Care and GG0170: Mobility and to align with similar guidance from other manuals.
- Changes to Section O: Special Treatments, Procedures, and Programs include:
- The addition of new item O0390: Therapy Services, which provides a simple checklist of therapy services received by the resident.
- The revision of item O0400: Therapies to remove all items except days of respiratory therapy.
- The removal of item O0420: Distinct Calendar Days of Therapy.
- The addition of Section R: Health-Related Social Needs, which includes new resident interview items R0310: Living Situation, R0320: Food, R0330: Utilities, and R0340: Transportation.
Specifics regarding all of the changes can be found in the included chapter/section change tables at the end of the draft Manual.