Z0500: Signature of RN Assessment Coordinator Verifying Assessment Completion

Item Rationale

Federal regulation requires the RN assessment coordinator to sign and thereby certify that the assessment is complete.

Steps for Assessment

Verify that all items on this assessment are complete.

Verify that Item Z0400 (Signature of Persons Completing the Assessment) contains attestation for all MDS sections.

Coding Instructions

For Z0500B, use the actual date that the MDS was completed, reviewed, and signed as complete by the RN assessment coordinator. This date must be equal to the latest date at Z0400 or later than the date(s) at Z0400, which documents when portions of the assessment information were completed by assessment team members.

If for some reason the MDS cannot be signed by the RN assessment coordinator on the date it is completed, the RN assessment coordinator should use the actual date that it is signed.

Coding Tips

The RN assessment coordinator is not certifying the accuracy of portions of the assessment that were completed by other health professionals.

Nursing homes may use electronic signatures for medical record documentation, including the MDS, when permitted to do so by state and local law and when authorized by the nursing home’s policy. Nursing homes must have written policies in place that meet any and all state and federal privacy and security requirements to ensure proper security measures to protect the use of an electronic signature by anyone other than the person to whom the electronic signature belongs.

Although the use of electronic signatures for the MDS does not require that the entire record be maintained electronically, most facilities have the option to maintain a resident’s record by computer rather than hard copy.

Whenever copies of the MDS are printed and dates are automatically encoded, be sure to note that it is a “copy” document and not the original.