M1810: CMS OASIS Q&As

If the patient is able to dress themself independently, then this is the response that should be marked, even if the activities are done in steps. If the dressing activity occurs in stages because verbal cueing or reminders are necessary for the patient to be able to complete the task, then Response 2 is appropriate. (Note that the shortness of breath would be addressed in M1400 - Dyspnea.)

M1810 & M1820 - Current Ability to Dress Upper/Lower Body, Response 0 indicates a patient is able to safely access clothes and put them on and remove them (with or without dressing aids). Because in these specific OASIS items, the use of special equipment does not impact the score selection, at the time of the assessment, if the patient is able to safely access clothes, and safely dress, then Response 0 would be appropriate even if the patient is using adaptive equipment and/or an adapted environment to promote independence.

When a patient’s ability varies on the day of assessment, the clinician reports what was true for a majority of the time. If the patient was unable to access clothing but could put on and remove the majority of clothing items safely when they were laid out for them, the appropriate score would be a “1”. If the environment is permanently modified (e.g., the patient decides to start storing clothing in the dresser instead of hanging in the closet), and the patient can now access clothes from a location without anyone’s help, then this new arrangement could now represent the patient's current status (e.g., clothing’s new “usual” storage area and patient's ability). The appropriate score would be a “0” if the patient was also able to put on and remove a majority of their clothing items safely. If however, the patient explained that while they are feeling weak, they will temporarily modify their dressing practice (e.g., place their clothes on the chair by the bed instead of putting them in the usual storage area - the closet), since the clothing lying on the chair is not in its “usual” storage area and the patient does not intend on making the chair their usual storage area for their clothes, then they are currently unable to obtain the clothing from its usual location, and the patient would be scored a “1”. The patient could then work to gain independence in accessing clothing from its usual storage location, or decide to make long-term environmental modifications, and possibly achieve improvement in the outcome if successful.

M1810 & M1820, Current Ability to Dress Upper/Lower Body, includes all the dressing items the patient usually wears and additionally any device the patient is ordered to wear, e.g., prosthetic, splint, brace, corset, Teds, knee immobilizer, orthotic, AFO, even if they have not routinely worn/used them before. If they are wearing the device/support (or ordered to wear the device/support) on the day of assessment, it is to be included when assessing and scoring M1810 & M1820.

There is no requirement that a patient dress within a specific amount of time in order to be independent in dressing. A patient may take longer than “usual”, but as long as they can safely access their clothing from its usual storage location, put on and take off a majority of their routine clothing items safely, the patient is scored a "0" in Upper and Lower Body Dressing.

When scoring M1810 and M1820, Current Ability to Dress Upper/Lower Body, in cases where a patient's ability is different for various upper or lower body dressing tasks, you will select the response that best describes the patient's level of ability to perform the majority of dressing tasks. The tasks are the individual clothing items routinely worn, as well as any supportive or prosthetic devices the patient is wearing or ordered to use during the day of the assessment. The majority of the tasks rule is not referencing the individual steps the patient must take in order to get, put on or take off clothing, but rather what is true for greater than 50% of the clothing items/devices usually worn on the upper/lower body.

Wound dressings are NOT one of the included dressing items when scoring M1810 Upper Body Dressing and M1820 - Lower Body Dressing. Note that elastic bandages, including ACE Wrap brand, worn for support and compression should be considered as a lower body dressing item, but wraps utilized solely to secure a wound dressing would not be considered a dressing (clothing) item for M1810 or M1820.