Licensing and certification program

Information for Health Care Providers

Minimum Data Set (MDS 3.0)

The Minimum Date Set (MDS) is a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) tool for implementing standardized assessment and for facilitating care management in nursing homes (NHs) and non-critical access hospital swing beds (SBs).

MDS 3.0 has been designated to improve the reliability, accuracy and usefulness of the MDS, and to expand the resident input during the assessment process. MDS uses standardized protocols that are also used in other health care settings. These improvements have great implications for NH and SB care, and public policy.

Health Care Providers are encouraged to visit the links below to learn more about MDS 3.0.

Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) 3.0 User’s Manual updates v1.17.1, effective October 1, 2019. New items and guidance are now available at the following link:

MDS 3.0 RAI Manual

About the L&C Federal Systems Support Unit (FSSU)

The L&C FSSU maintain and support numerous federally mandated systems associated with skilled nursing facilities, swing-bed hospitals and home health agencies. Among these systems are MDS, SB-MDS, and the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS). Through partnerships with health care providers and their respective membership associations, FSSU provides training pertinent to the federal data collection systems as well as operate and maintain a full-time helpdesk, providing technical and clinical support regarding the collecting, encoding and transmitting of patient data.