MDS Data Available
Resident Assessment | Facility Quality Indicator | Public Use
The Long Term Care Minimum Data Set (MDS) is a standardized, primary screening and assessment tool of health status which forms the foundation of the comprehensive assessment for all residents of long-term care facilities certified to participate in Medicare or Medicaid.
The MDS contains items that measure physical, psychological and psycho-social functioning. The items in the MDS give a multidimensional view of the patient's functional capacities, and can be used to present a nursing home's profile. The MDS now plays a key role in the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement system and in monitoring the quality of care provided to nursing facility residents.
Data Available: MDS data from CMS is available starting in June 1998, although CMS does not recommend using MDS data until October 1998.
To request these data researchers need to submit to CMS a research identifiable data request packet.
Resource links:
- CMS's RAI Version 2.0 Manual
- Chapter 1 and 2 contains an overview of the MDS data collection process
- Chapter 3 contains a description of the data elements collected in the MDS
- MDS resident assessment tracking forms
There are four types of MDS Facility level Quality Indicator (QI) Reports available from CMS. These reports, sometimes collectively referred to as "the National QI Reports", are available for research purposes from CMS's Central Office. These reports analyze MDS QIs on a nationwide basis, region, state or facility. To request these data researchers need to submit to CMS a research identifiable data request packet.
Resource links:
- Chapter 3 of the Long Term Care Facilities User's Manual (March 2001) contains detail about the National facility QI reports available from CMS.
MDS Quality Indicator and Resident Reports
The data elements collected as part of the MDS assessment process are used in the calculation of either Quality Indicators (QIs - used to point out potential problem areas in care), Resource Utilization Groups (RUGS - used in determining payment issues), or Resident Assessment Protocols (RAPs - used to further identify and evaluate the resident's strengths, problems, and needs). These reports contain information at the state level for every Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the country
- The MDS Quality Indicator (QI) Report summarizes, by state, the average percentage of nursing home residents who activate (trigger) one of 24 quality indicators (32 with subcategories) during a quarter. QIs are triggered by specific responses to MDS elements and identify residents who either have or are at risk for specific functional problems needing further evaluation.
- The Active Resident Report contains MDS data assessment responses for residents currently in nursing homes presented at a state and national level.
- The Assessment Counts Report contains the number of assessments by reason for assessment (AA8a AA8b).
- The Q1a Report summarizes, by state and county, percentages of residents that answered "yes" to Q1a: Residents expresses/indicates preference to return to the community.
- The MDS RUG III Report displays national frequencies and percentages for the RUG III categories from MDS Medicare assessment records. The RUG groups are classified using the Medicare RUG-III Grouper methodology.
- The MDS Frequency Reports give a picture of the characteristics of the nursing home population in each state and nationally through presentation of data on frequency of responses to specific MDS items.
Nursing Home Compare
An interactive tool that provides information at the facility level for every Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the country. Nursing Home Compare includes:
- Nursing home characteristics such as number of beds, type of ownership and whether or not the nursing home participates in Medicare, Medicaid or both.
- Resident characteristics including percent of residents with pressure sore, percent of residents with urinary incontinence and more.
- Summary information about nursing homes during their last State inspection.
- Information on the number of registered nurses, licensed practical or vocational nurses, and nursing assistants in each nursing home.
Resource links:
- Nursing Home Quality Initiative
- Contains links to reports and other documents that describe the quality measures in more detail.
Last Modified September 23, 2008