MDS Coordinator

Job Description

Job Description

Newfane Rehab and Health Care Center is hiring a full-time MDS Coordinator (Minimum Data Set Coordinator), and here's the part most MDS Coordinators want to hear first: this MDS Coordinator position comes with very limited floor nurse duties. You will not be pulled onto a cart every other week to cover a unit.

This is an MDS Coordinator job where you actually get to do MDS work — assessments, care plans, the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) process — the way it's supposed to be done, with the time and the desk to do it right. If you're an MDS Coordinator who has spent the last few years doing assessments at 8 p.m. because you spent the day covering the floor, this is the job you've been waiting for.

Two things before you read further, because we'd rather be clear than waste your time: this MDS Coordinator role requires a current Registered Nurse (RN) license, and it requires prior MDS Coordinator experience in a nursing home. Not MDS exposure. Not a nurse who's ready to learn MDS. We need someone who has run the MDS desk in a skilled nursing building and can walk in and pick up the assessment calendar.

We've been taking care of Niagara County families since 1976, and Newfane is a small town in the best sense of the word — farm country, ten minutes from Olcott and the Lake Ontario shoreline, about twenty minutes from Lockport, under an hour from Buffalo. Our building runs the way a small-town nursing home should: staff and residents know each other by name, and "At Newfane, you are family" is not a poster in the lobby, it's how the place actually operates. We're part of a family of facilities, we offer 24-hour skilled nursing care, long-term care, short-term rehabilitation, respiratory and trach care, wound care, and hospice and palliative care, and our team is genuinely multidisciplinary — which means the MDS Coordinator here is a respected voice at the table, not a paperwork department of one. Compensation goes up to $105,000, depending on experience.

What You'll Do

• Own the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) process from start to finish: assessment scheduling, Minimum Data Set (MDS) completion, Care Area Assessments (CAAs), and transmission to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

• Complete accurate and timely MDS 3.0 assessments — admission, quarterly, annual, significant change, and Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS) assessments

• Coordinate the interdisciplinary team (IDT) care plan process, including care plan meetings with residents and families

• Work closely with nursing, therapy (Physical Therapy/PT, Occupational Therapy/OT, Speech-Language Pathology/SLP), social services, and dietary to make sure documentation supports the care being delivered

• Support accurate reimbursement under the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) through capture reviews and Medicare meetings

• Monitor Quality Measures (QMs) and help the team stay survey-ready

• Handle a small amount of floor nurse coverage on rare occasions — this is genuinely limited, and we'll be honest with you about it in the interview

Qualifications

• Registered Nurse (RN) with a current, active New York State license — required. This role cannot be filled by a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)

• Prior MDS Coordinator experience in a nursing home is required. You must have run the MDS (Minimum Data Set) process in a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) / Long-Term Care (LTC) setting. MDS experience from a hospital, hospice, or managed care background does not transfer to this role, and we are not able to train a floor nurse into this position

• Working knowledge of the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) manual, MDS 3.0, Care Area Assessments (CAAs), and the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM)

• Resident Assessment Coordinator–Certified (RAC-CT) is a plus, not a requirement

• Comfortable with electronic medical records (EMR) and the reporting side of the job

• Organized, detail-oriented, and able to keep an assessment calendar honest

What We Offer

• Salary up to $105,000, based on experience

• Very limited floor nurse duty — the single biggest reason MDS Coordinators leave their last building

• Full-time, weekday day schedule

• A stable facility that has been part of the Newfane community since 1976

• A close-knit team in a small-town building where you're a person, not a badge number

• Benefits package — details reviewed during the interview process

Apply

If you're a Registered Nurse (RN) with real MDS Coordinator experience in a nursing home, and you want to do the job you were hired to do instead of covering the floor, apply today. We move quickly, and we're happy to talk through the details of the MDS Coordinator role with you before you commit to anything.

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