Effective January 1, 2015 CMS is requiring Home Health Agencies to transition from state OASIS submission systems to the national OASIS Assessment Submission and Processing (ASAP) system. While the process for submitting OASIS assessments to CMS have changed, the process of generating the OASIS export files out of AgencyCore has not. The steps to complete both are outlined below.
First make sure the OASIS assessment is completed and is in the Export Ready status. Then, go to the Create menu and select the OASIS Export option.
Select Payment Source/s, Date Range then click on the Generate button to retrieve a list of OASIS assessments for the parameters selected.
QTSO
Select (check) the patient OASIS records you wish to submit and click Generate OASIS file button.
This action will now generate a zipped XML file instead of a text file format used for state submission. Select to Save the file.
The file will automatically save to the Downloads file folder on your computer.
If you have created a specific folder for your OASIS submissions you may simply drag and drop the zip folder into the designated folder.
While it is not necessary to open the file prior to submission if, for some reason, you wish to open the zipped XML file you will need a zip file version software such as win-zip or 7-zip. These may be downloaded at their corresponding websites. If opened, the file will need to be "rezipped" prior to uploading to CMS.
When opened the XML OASIS file follows this format:
On/After January 1, 2015 submission of OASIS files will be through the new ASAP site. Users may navigate to the site via the following URL: https://www.qtso.com/index.php. Once at the QIES Technical Support Office site, select the CMSNet Information Link.
Agencies with existing QIES User ID and passwords simply select the CMSNet – Submission Access link to begin the submission process.
CMS recommends users bookmark theCMSNet – Submission Access link by right clicking on the link and selecting to bookmark.
The User ID and password previously used for submission to the state will allow access to both the ASAP submission system and CASPER reporting as indicated in the OASIS Download page.
If your agency has never submitted OASIS, you will need to request a User ID and password by following the instructions provided at https://www.qtso.com/accesshha.html.
Upon selection of the CMSNet- Submission Access link the user will be directed to the submission access page where the user selects the agency state.
After selecting the state the user will be directed to the secure access service. This is where the user's unique User ID and password (previous state QIES user id and password) are entered.
PLEASE NOTE: The initial time connecting will require System Admin rights on your computer to enable the necessary components to connect to the QIES application.
If prompted to enter a new password please follow the guidelines outlined in the Overview section of the OASIS Submission User Guide found at https://www.qtso.com/hhatrain.html .
The password must contain ALL of these:
Once the password has been successfully updated the user will be redirected to the log in page.
Upon successful log-in the user is presented with the CMS QIES System welcome page. To Submit an OASIS file select the OASIS Submissions link and follow the upload instructions. It is important to note that OASIS files must now be in a zip format.
The default menu item displayed is File Upload. To upload select Browse and select the file from the folder it was saved to on the computer. Note: The file must be 5MB or smaller.
Page 13 of the Functionality section of the OASIS Submission User Guide states a critical note:
The time it takes for the OASIS File Submission system to receive the OASIS data file you submitted depends upon the size of your file and concurrent system activity. Until you receive confirmation that your file was successfully uploaded, do not exit the OASIS File Submission system or perform any other function. You risk interrupting the file upload process if you do not wait for the confirmation message.
The CMS QIES system may take up to 24 hours to process the uploaded file for validation. To view submission status of uploaded files the user may select Submission Status Menu option from the OASIS Submission Page.
Once files are processed for errors users may view the Validation Report by selecting the CASPER Reporting link from the Welcome Page.
The OASIS Submission User Guide is an excellent resource and may be accessed from the following paths:
From the Welcome Page once logged into the CMS QIES System:
At the following URL: https://www.qtso.com/hhatrain.html. To navigate to the OASIS User Guides from www.qtso.com, select OASIS in the left hand column.
Then select €˜Users Guide & Training' link located in the menu bar directly under OASIS Download title.
Guides and Manuals are found halfway down the page. Highlight the section you wish to read from the drop down list and €˜Select'
After viewing, select the back arrow on your browser to navigate back to the Guides and Training page.
Please see the Question and Answer section in the AgencyCore training manual for additional information regarding this and other 2015 changes.
