Nursing Facility Pre-Admission Screening Level II Timing Requirement Waived

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Jeff Bostic

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) recently announced that they have temporarily waived the requirement for OBRA Level II evaluations to be completed before a person’s nursing facility (NF) admission. This change helps people discharge from hospitals to nursing facilities more quickly, which opens up hospital beds and staffing to meet the increasing demand caused by COVID-19.

Counties may now complete the OBRA Level II evaluative report before or after NF admission, as long as they complete it within nine business days of receiving the preadmission screening (PAS)/OBRA Level I. The hospital and NF will not have to wait for the final PAS results to admit a person to the NF if they meet NF level of care criteria on the initial PAS.

For more details on the temporary change, providers can review DHS Bulletin #21-56-01.