July 2026 OASIS Q&As Clarify HHQRP Compliance, Revise Key Coding Guidance

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the July 2026 the Home Health Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) Q&As, a document updated on a quarterly basis intended to provide guidance on OASIS questions that were received by CMS help desks. As a reminder, responses may be time-limited and may be superseded by future CMS guidance.

In this edition of the Q&As, CMS clarifies that they will begin using non-Medicare/non-Medicaid OASIS data for the purpose of calculating a home health agency's HHQRP Annual Payment Update (APU) compliance for patients who begin receiving skilled home health care services with an OASIS SOC M0090 date on or after January 1, 2027. In this quarters update, CMS also notes with two questions on how to appropriately code M1060 Height and Weight and M1311 Current Number of Unhealed Pressure Ulcers/Injuries at Each Stage, that the response offered in the July 2026 Q&A supersedes the guidance found in the OASIS-E2 Guidance Manual. Agencies should pay close attention to these two changes and inform staff of the guidance changes.