Transcript Generated by AI 00:06 Hey Mark Parkinson back with Park Place. And I'm here today with Kristin 00:10 Crouch, who is the VP of Clinical Reimbursement at Everest Management 00:14 Solutions. And one of the things I just absolutely love about Park Place is 00:18 that we get to work with so many great vendor partners who are doing amazing 00:21 things in buildings. And they have so many cool people that work with them, 00:25 fun, interesting, smart people. And Kristin definitely fits that category. 00:29 We're here today to talk about MDS coordinators. And you might say, well, 00:33 That doesn't seem very interesting. Well, it's interesting to us. And one of 00:36 the things I love about Kristin is that she really appreciates MDS 00:40 coordinators, what they do. They're unheralded. They do great work in our 00:44 buildings. And Everest Management Solutions has come up with a bunch of 00:47 tools to make them better and make your buildings better and the care for 00:51 patients better. And anyway, Kristin, it's just fun to be with you today. 00:55 Welcome to Park Place. 00:59 Thank you. I am honored and excited to be here. Thanks for having me. 01:02 You bet. Now I know it sounds kinda odd. You you and I I guess we're dorks 01:05 because we're excited to talk about MDS coordinators, but we should be 01:08 because they really play an important role in our buildings. G give give 01:12 give us your thoughts about 01:15 Yeah, so I think a lot of times people think the MDS coordinator is just the 01:19 person that completes the MDS and and helps drive the plan of care, but it 01:24 is so much bigger than that. And when you start to understand the impact and 01:28 the downstream effect that that MDS has on your operations, you start to 01:33 really understand how important that role is in your building. See the MDS 01:37 coordinator, they're sitting in the middle of clinical and and regulatory 01:42 compliance and you know, operations and quality of care. And they're taking 01:46 a picture of the resident, their condition, and the the care that we're 01:51 providing, and they're translating it into data. And a lot of people don't 01:55 understand that that data doesn't just stay on the MDS and within your 01:59 buildings. That data is being used for five-star, you know, quality 02:04 measures, QRP, now VBP. And in most states it's it's impacting your Medicaid 02:08 rates and and your reimbursement across several different platforms. 02:13 Yeah, I absolutely. And I mean they have an enormous impact on the clinical 02:16 results that we get, you know, our our care for the residents and also on 02:19 our financial results. So talk a little bit about the impact they have in 02:21 those two areas. 02:24 Yeah, so financially that MDS is usually being used to measure some way or 02:29 another acuity for different payers. And every payer may use a different 02:33 methodology or or method when they're measuring or defining acuity. So it's 02:37 very difficult to stay up. You know, one in for example, one insurance may 02:42 be using the full PDPM model. One may be using bits and pieces of PDPM, 02:46 maybe just the nursing component or a blend of nursing and NTAs. There may 02:51 be add-ons for diagnosis capture, behavior capture. What I'm seeing a big 02:55 change in is that states are starting to use for their Medicaid 03:00 reimbursement quality incentives, you know, financially, and add-ons in that 03:04 respect. And then bigger than that, from a business perspective, you know, 03:08 this data that's being put into that MDS. is publicized, you know, for 03:13 consumers and for others. So there's a lot of visibility in the quality of 03:17 care we're providing. And that can impact where consumers are deciding to to 03:22 take their care or send their loved ones or our partnerships with referral 03:26 systems and partners with, you know, practitioners and stuff of who they 03:31 feel comfortable, you know, sending referrals and patients to based on the 03:35 quality of care that they're seeing. 03:40 Yeah, it obviously an enormous impact. So you've s worked with I don't know 03:44 if it's hundreds of MDS coordinators, maybe thousands. What what separates a 03:48 good MDS coordinator from a great 03:52 It's great question. So I think a good MDS coordinator understands the RAI 03:57 process and care planning. They understand how to schedule an assessment, 04:01 how to complete an assessment, and how to drive a plan of care. But a great 04:06 MDS coordinator knows the data behind the MDS. They are able to see what 04:10 that data is, and they're able to help empower their teams to make 04:15 measurable change in quality of care. we all like to think that we have the 04:20 best quality of care in our buildings, but when we're able to look at that 04:24 data and see where the weaknesses are, that kind of helps make sorry, that 04:29 kind of helps drive our see I already screwed up. I can't do that. 04:34 That's okay. That's okay. Why don't why don't we s we'll just what we're 04:36 gonna do is I'm just gonna ask that questions again. So I'm just gonna ask 04:38 what separates a good from a great and y you'll you'll be fine. So we'll 04:40 just start I'll start. No no no, you're doing great. Okay. So do you need to 04:43 restart it the five, four, three? Okay. Very good. Okay. 04:45 is pounding. Okay. 04:56 Awesome. Okay. So Kristin, what separates a good MDS coordinator from a 05:01 great one? What what are the differences between the two? 05:05 Yeah, so a good MDS coordinator understands the RAI process and care 05:10 planning. They know how to do the day-to-day. They're maybe compliant with 05:14 coding and they're compliant with timing and things like that. But a great 05:18 MDS coordinator knows the data behind, you know, that what we're putting 05:23 into that MDS. And they're helping to empower their teams to make measurable 05:27 change in the quality of care we're providing. Because ultimately we always 05:31 want to strive To make improvements and provide the highest level of care 05:35 that we can so that we see that as like a very positive outcome for not only 05:40 our business, but also for our patients. A great MDS coordinator understands 05:44 gaps and they understand, you know, that we're where we need to make change 05:48 and mitigate risk when it comes to you know gaps in our documentation or 05:52 things that we're not capturing out. 05:57 Yeah, absolutely. Now I know that Everest Management Solutions, you guys at 06:00 EMS, you work with providers to help turn their good MDS coordinating into 06:04 great ones. How how do you do that? 06:08 Yeah. So when I engage with a building, the first thing I do is I complete 06:13 an assessment, a thorough assessment. I need to know where are we at with 06:17 our knowledge? Where are we at with our current practices, our current 06:21 processes? What does the documentation look like? What does the data show, 06:26 you know, as far as our quality of care? And that kind of helps drive, you 06:30 know, my focus and and how I'm tailoring. my services to that building. Now, 06:34 of course, I'm gonna give them tools and resources and and things like that 06:39 and help them strengthen their weak areas. But what I take a lot of pride in 06:43 and what I'm very, very passionate about is education. I need to make sure 06:47 that not only the MDS coordinator either, I I'm working with that full IDT. 06:52 Everybody has to know number one, how are they measuring acuity and how are 06:56 they measuring our quality of care? And then they also have to understand 07:00 what that data means and so that they can make changes on their own. To me, 07:05 success isn't that I'm finding all of the problems. To me, success is that 07:09 I've given them enough knowledge and power so that they can start 07:13 recognizing those things independently. one of my favorite things is when I 07:17 get a call from an MDS coordinator and they'll say, Kristin. You won't 07:22 believe it, but I found, you know, fill in the blank. That's to me what is 07:26 now successful and and helping them be sustainable long term. 07:30 Yeah. You're not just catching a fish for them, you're teaching them how to 07:31 fish. You're cat you're teaching them how to find it on their own. So what 07:32 kind of results do you see? I know I I mean I just love what EMS is you you 07:33 guys are doing so many great things in buildings. What kind of results are 07:33 you getting from this particular 07:34 Yep. 07:45 Sure. So of course we see, you know, an increase in capture of acuity and 07:48 we're seeing their quality shift. But again, my favorite result is 07:52 independence, that the teams are now given that knowledge where they're 07:55 making independent, you know, they're able to see that picture independently 07:59 and they're not relying on us. Because there's softwares out there that can 08:03 help you find things and there's consultants, you know, that can point 08:06 things out that you're doing wrong. But again, when you're able to 08:10 independently understand your data. that's when you start to see, you know, 08:13 that you're able to improve in your quality of care and be able to capture 08:17 the level of acuity that you're providing, you know, out on the floor and be 08:20 reimbursed fairly. 08:24 You know, I think EMS is mainly known for coming into like disaster 08:27 situations and turning them around. But this work that you're doing with MDS 08:30 coordinators, this could be for any functional level of a nursing home. 08:34 Nursing home could be doing fine, but it's still there's an ROI in looking 08:37 at their MDS coordinating program and and improving it w w whether they're 08:41 in trouble or not. 08:44 Yeah, absolutely. And every time we turn around, CMS is changing something. 08:47 So it's not that you teach them everything one day and they're good forever. 08:51 It's every we have to continuously work on improving and strengthening 08:54 certain areas. 08:58 Well, Kristin, thanks for spending time with us. I'm I'm glad to learn that 09:02 there's at least one other person on the planet that reveres and is 09:06 interested in MDS coordinators. And so we're soulmates on that. And thanks 09:10 for the great work that you do in buildings, Kristin. I know you guys are 09:14 doing some terrific things. And we appreciate all of you for your continued 09:18 support of Park Place.
