When considering future opportunities in long-term care, healthcare professionals should now start looking into acquiring a new type of skill: proficiency with the Uniform Assessment System, or UAS. For many registered nurses and care coordinators who have been unemployed, or have been employed long-term with a facility that hasn’t yet switched to the tool, learning a new assessment system may seem daunting. However, since the UAS is now the standard tool for many Medicaid home and community-based long-term programs and services, it is becoming a necessity for those interested in pursuing long-term care.

Unifying Medicaid programs under the UAS allows for information on chronically ill patients to be universally documented as a part of the New York State Medicaid Redesign Effort’s ongoing effort to improve efficiency and overall patient health and communication. Many currently employed professionals may not yet have a need for these skills, but those searching for a job in the near future will surely see the UAS as a trending requirement for most long-term care positions—especially those of home care nurses.

Due to this sudden, unprecedented shift to the UAS, there is now a large skills gap with a high demand for UAS-savvy professionals and not enough professionals to satisfy that need. “At The Execu|Search Group, we’re experiencing a sudden influx of demand for nursing professionals with these skills,” says Kelly Mattice, Vice President of The Execu|Search Group’s Health Services division. “Many of our clients have already transitioned to the new system and are actively looking for qualified candidates who can hit the ground running.”

As a result, nursing professionals seeking opportunities in managed long-term care facilities should ensure they develop these skills in order to become more marketable in the field. The UAS comes with an integrated training environment with online courses through the Health Commerce System, so those who are currently employed with an organization that is now using the tool can take advantage of these resources to learn. For those who are unemployed,  the New York Department of Health offers a comprehensive list of informative documents and other training materials for healthcare professionals and organizations to familiarize themselves with.

However, use of the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) data set has remained unchanged, so nursing professionals looking for work should still remain up-to-date on OASIS knowledge and experience. Many healthcare organizations currently using OASIS—which is strictly used for patients with non-chronic illnesses—are now cross-training their staff in the UAS. So if you’re currently employed in one of these facilities, take advantage of the opportunity to acquire what is becoming a highly sought-after skill!