About the long-term care (LTC) screening document

Page posted: 8/3/26

The LTC screening document is located in the prior authorization subsystem. It records activities completed by lead agencies (counties, Tribal Nations and managed care organizations), DHS staff, Minnesota Aging Pathways staff and others. These activities include:

· Preadmission screenings (PAS). For more information, refer to the PAS section on this page.

· Long-term care consultation (LTCC) activities, including assessments and recommendations for services. For more information, refer to CBSM – LTCC.

· Eligibility determination and service authorization for HCBS programs, including the Brain Injury (BI) Waiver, Community Alternative Care (CAC) Waiver, Community Access for Disability Inclusion (CADI) Waiver, Elderly Waiver (EW), Alternative Care (AC), Moving Home Minnesota (MHM) and Essential Community Supports (ECS) programs. For information about service authorization, refer to the service authorization and payments section on this page.
Note: The LTC screening document does not capture information about the Developmental Disabilities (DD) Waiver. For information about that waiver, refer to DD Screening Document Codebook.

· Home and community-based services (HCBS) program management activities, including reassessment to continue program eligibility, termination from a program and program changes.

· Provision of relocation service coordination – targeted case management (RSC-TCM) and other transition assistance.

· Allocation of resources (i.e., budgets) for some programs to support services.

LTC Screening Document, DHS-3427 (PDF) mirrors the MMIS screens and fields in the LTC screening document. You can use DHS-3427 as a quick reference to screens and fields in MMIS.

Preadmission screening (PAS)

All people who enter a Medicaid-certified nursing facility, certified boarding care facility or hospital swing bed must receive a PAS, regardless of payer source. MMIS screenings are required for nursing facility payment.

Health care professionals seeking admission complete Minnesota Aging Pathways – PAS online referral. Minnesota Aging Pathways forwards some PAS referrals to a lead agency for completion.

For additional information, refer to the following resources:

· Minnesota Aging Pathways – PAS.

· MMIS LTSS Manual – LTC screening document activity types (activity type 01).

The LTC screening document records information about PAS.

Service authorization and payment

The LTC screening document creates a program eligibility span in MMIS, which provides an important link between assessment and eligibility determination data, the person’s information and subsequent service authorization and claims payment.

Service agreement approval depends on the program eligibility span created by the LTC screening document and eligibility information from the recipient subsystem. The combined information limits the length of time for service approval, the type of service agreement you can enter and the types and amounts of services you can approve for payment. For more information about service agreements, refer to MMIS LTSS Manual – Work with service agreements.

Medical Assistance (MA) eligibility

Information in the LTC screening document does not directly affect a person’s eligibility for MA. Only eligibility workers (also referred to as financial workers) may open or close a person’s MA eligibility.

Lead agency assessors communicate with eligibility workers using Lead Agency Assessor/Case Manager/Worker LTC Communication Form, DHS-5181 about the outcome of assessments, including determination of institutional level of care as indicated in the LTC screening document. The eligibility worker must have the determination and documentation of an institutional level of care to apply special rules for LTC MA eligibility determination.

Timelines

The LTC screening document has an important role in establishing payments for a variety of LTC services, including nursing facility services. Lead agencies must enter LTC screening document information into MMIS in a timely manner.

DHS strongly recommends lead agencies enter data into MMIS within 14 days of completing any LTCC or case management activity.

Data collection, quality assurance and management reporting

DHS uses information from the LTC screening document, in combination with other data, for a variety of program evaluation purposes. This includes quality assurance, federal compliance, program development and management reporting.

Additional resources

CBSM – LTCC
Lead Agency Assessor/Case Manager/Worker LTC Communication Form, DHS-5181
LTC Screening Document, DHS-3427 (PDF)
Minnesota Aging Pathways – PAS
Minnesota Aging Pathways – PAS online referral
MMIS LTSS Manual – LTC screening document activity types
MMIS LTSS Manual – Work with service agreements