GG Driver's Manual-GG Driver's Manual

GG Driver's Manual

Pdf Summary

The AAPACN GG Driver’s Manual (January 2025 release) serves as a comprehensive guide for managing Section GG assessments in long-term care facilities, helping teams accurately document, audit, and utilize residents’ functional status data for quality improvement and reimbursement purposes.<br /><br />Section GG evaluates residents’ usual performance in self-care and mobility over a specific 3-day window during admission, interim, or discharge assessments. The manual emphasizes the importance of determining “usual performance” rather than best or worst performance, requiring careful team coordination, consistent documentation, and validation of scored assistance levels ranging from independent to dependent care.<br /><br />The Section GG Driver acts as a team leader, coordinating the complex GG process: scheduling documentation, overseeing training, confirming data accuracy, engaging residents and families, and supporting care planning aligned with the resident’s functional abilities. The workflow involves ongoing staff education, interdisciplinary team meetings, and use of standardized tools and templates for data collection and usual performance determination.<br /><br />Section GG data has multifaceted uses: it underpins Medicare’s Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) for skilled nursing facility reimbursement by classifying residents into payment categories based on physical therapy, occupational therapy, and nursing functional scores derived from GG items. It also contributes to numerous national Quality Measures (QMs) within the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program (SNF QRP) and impacts state Medicaid reimbursement models.<br /><br />The manual details auditing practices to ensure MDS accuracy and system compliance using QM audit tools, guiding facilities through a five-step rescue process to identify and correct quality gaps. It highlights the significance of accurate documentation for regulatory compliance, reimbursement, care planning, and quality reporting.<br /><br />In sum, this manual equips nursing home teams to systematically collect, analyze, and apply Section GG data to improve resident care, maintain compliance, optimize reimbursement, and guide quality improvement initiatives through standardized workflows and rigorous auditing methods. It includes templates, definitions, coding instructions, and resources for ongoing education and process refinement.

Keywords

AAPACN GG Driver’s Manual

Section GG assessments

long-term care facilities

functional status data

self-care and mobility

usual performance evaluation

team coordination and documentation

Medicare PDPM reimbursement

Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program

MDS accuracy auditing