MDS Submission Update

VHCA (03/06/09)

The Office of Licensure and Certification (OLC) has requested that we share the following information with providers regarding MDS submissions and the change in logon IDs and passwords.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been working over the past year to eliminate the dial-up process for submitting MDS and OASIS assessment information.  The OLC has received a list from CMS of long term care facilities and home health agencies in Virginia that have yet to convert to broadband. There are 19 hospitals, 54 long term care facilities and 55 home health agencies on that list.  Please be aware that at some point CMS will eliminate the ability to use dial-up for the submission process. 

In an effort to increase security, CMS is changing the login ID and password members currently use to log into the MDS/OASIS systems for the submission of assessment data and CASPER reports. Early in 2009, the new system will allow two individuals from a facility to request their own Personal ID and password. The Personal ID/password will belong to the user exclusively – sharing your Personal ID/password will be considered a security violation. Once a user is registered for their Personal ID/password, the login ID/password currently in use will be retired.

Please use this time to determine the appropriate two employees (who already have an MDCN account) to request a Personal ID/password to access the CMS systems. For your convenience, the Registration Link (once operational) for assigning the new Personal ID/password will be featured on the MDS and OASIS State Welcome Pages.

Note: This will not affect MDCN/AT&T login ID and passwords. H@XXXXX accounts will remain the same. A user’s email address is the communication link for updates regarding the named user account.  Be sure that the email address provided is a secure address that only the user can access. If a secure email address is not assigned, users will need to obtain one one.

Check the State Bulletin on the submission page and go to the website for more information.   Email Sandy Lee or call at 804.367.6636 for help or information.