OASIS · CMS Q&As
M0102: CMS OASIS Q&As
5 questions CMS has answered, quoted whole from the CMS OASIS Q&As.
M0102 on the OASIS item lookup
M0102 & M0104. When determining the physician-ordered SOC(ROC) date (for M0102) or the date of referral (for M0104) should communication from the hospital/SNF DC planner be considered as representing physician referral?
Yes, a referral received from a hospital or SNF discharge planner on behalf of the physician/allowed practitioner should be considered when determining the physician-ordered SOC(ROC) date or the date of referral.
[Q&A EDITED 05/22; ADDED 01/11; Previously CMS OCCB Q&A 10/09 Q2]
M0102 & M0104. How should M0102 - Date of Physician-ordered SOC (ROC) and M0104 - Date of Referral, be answered when you discover that the patient’s insurance changed months ago and the new payer requires a new SOC with OASIS data? We have orders for the care but not for a specific date and we do not have a paper referral for that new episode. Do we just use the SOC date as the M0102 date?
In the situation you present, there is no need to obtain either a physician's ordered start of care date or a referral date as you are not initiating care, just changing payers. In the specific situation where a new SOC comprehensive assessment is completed for the sole purpose of changing payers, M0102 - Date of Physician-ordered SOC would be “NA”. For M0104 - Date of Referral, enter the day prior to the new Start of Care Date. If you know the date the insurance is changing, then actual dates can be used.
[Q&A ADDED 01/11; Previously CMS OCCB Q&A 07/10 Q1]
M0102 & M0104. When following the guidance in Cat. 2 Q61 for a late F2F situation, how should M0102 - Date of Physician ordered SOC/ROC and M0104 - Date of Referral be answered, as M0030 (Start of Care Date) will change based off of the first billable visit? This “workaround” for the late F2F has the potential to have a negative impact on the timely initiation of care process measure. Category 2 Q61: If the F2F does not occur within 30 days after the start of care (SOC), but it does occur, for example, on the 35th day, how should OASIS data be collected and submitted? Answer (excerpt): Where a face-to-face encounter did not occur within the 90 days prior to the SOC or within 30 days after the SOC, a provider may use an existing OASIS assessment to generate another OASIS with a reported SOC date equal to the first visit date after all Medicare HH eligibility criteria are met. If multiple OASIS assessments exist, the data from the assessment conducted closest to the date of Medicare eligibility should be used.
In the scenario cited, where a new Start of Care Date is established based on the completion of a late face-to-face encounter for Medicare eligibility, report M0102 - Date of Physician-ordered SOC as “NA” and report M0104 - Date of Referral, as the day prior to the new Start of Care Date.
[Q&A ADDED 10/16; Previously CMS Qtrly Q&A 01/16 Q2]
M0102 & M0104. We received a referral for home care but were unable to reach the patient for several days. We notified the physician of the problem. When the patient did answer our phone call, the patient requested we start care a week after the original order date. We sent a fax to the MD 5 days after the original order was received requesting a delay in the SOC with a specific date 3 days from then. If we received the order back from the MD prior to that new date, how do we answer M0102 - Physicianordered SOC date and M0104 - Date of Referral?
The OASIS Guidance Manual, Chapter 3, Response-Specific Instructions for M0102 state "If the originally ordered Start of Care (SOC)/Resumption of Care (ROC) is delayed due to the patient’s condition or physician/allowed practitioner request (e.g., extended hospitalization), then the date specified on the revised order to start home care services would be considered the date of physician-ordered SOC/ROC." In order to report this new updated/revised physician's ordered start of care date in M0102 – Date of Physician-ordered SOC/ROC, it must have been received before the end of the 48-hour initial assessment timeframe (or before the date of the previous physician's ordered start of care date, if one was provided). If the order to extend the physician's ordered start of care date is received after the 48-hour initial assessment timeframe (or after the date of the previous physician's ordered start of care date, if one was provided), report NA for M0102 and report the original referral date in M0104 - Date of Referral.
[Q&A EDITED 10/23; EDITED 05/22; EDITED 04/15; ADDED 06/14; Previously CMS Qtrly Q&A 04/14 Q5]
M0102. We have a very large referral base send referrals via fax. The physician ordered SOC date indicated on the referral is often 2-3 days before the date we even receive the fax (time stamp on fax is January 6th for a physician ordered SOC date of January 4th). We have been completing M0102 - Date of Physician Ordered SOC date with the date specified by the physician (January 4th), which has penalized our agency on the Timeliness of Care measure. We have attempted to obtain a verbal order to update the SOC date, however the physician group have become irritated with our calls. Please advise.
The agency should contact the physician/allowed practitioner to state that a patient referral was received after the physician ordered SOC date and to confirm that patient is still in need of home care services. If the need still exists, a valid SOC order, with updated referral or physician’s ordered SOC date can be obtained.
[Q&A EDITED 05/22; ADDED 04/15; Previously CMS Qtrly Q&A 01/15 Q4]
Also mentioned in
Source: CMS OASIS Q&As: Category 4 - OASIS Data Set: Forms and Items (March 2026), text extracted from the PDF with pdftotext, retrieved 2026-10-09. Works of the US Government are in the public domain.
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