Locking freezes a reviewed OASIS assessment so nothing changes between review and submission. The Review and Lock OASIS task is the working surface; the OASIS page is where you track assessments and handle export or iQIES follow-up after review.
Read the queue
Open OASIS in the sidebar. The tiles across the top are your worklist: Pending Review, Due This Week, In QA Review, Returned for Changes, and Awaiting Submission.
The table lists each assessment with its patient, episode, OASIS type (SOC, ROC, Recert, DC), status, reviewer, and due date.
Status | Meaning |
Due | Waiting for review to start |
In QA | A reviewer is working it |
Returned | Sent back to the clinician for changes |
Awaiting submission | Reviewed; ready to lock and submit |
Submitted | Filed |
Lock an assessment
Open the related Review and Lock OASIS task.
Finish the review: work the findings, apply or reject each suggestion, and record a Reason for change where you adjust an answer.
If changes were sent to the clinician, wait until every clinician approval is resolved.
Confirm there are no denied items still needing action and validation issues are cleared.
Mark the OASIS reviewed and click Complete Review.
Completing the lock disables further edits. The header shows the lock deadline (Day 5 from the assessment date); lock before it so the submission window is never at risk.
Two things worth knowing about how the lock relates to the rest of the chart:
The OASIS is paired with the plan of care review but independent of it. Do not hold the POC waiting on OASIS cleanup — approve the POC when it is ready and finish the OASIS here.
An accepted OASIS change generates an addendum on the visit note automatically, recording the original value, the new value, and the reasoning — see Correct visit documentation.
Warning: Lock after your review is genuinely done, not as a way to clear the queue. Unlocking to fix something after the fact reopens the assessment and undoes the point of the freeze.
Export after locking
After an OASIS is locked, use the OASIS dashboard to track and export it for iQIES. Follow your agency's transmission process if a third-party vendor or designated administrative user handles submission.
Do not assume locking means the OASIS has already been transmitted.
Warning: Use administrative override only for leadership-approved exceptions, such as when the authoring clinician is unavailable and a validated error must be corrected.
If something goes wrong
You locked too soon. Follow agency policy before reopening or overriding a locked assessment.
An assessment sits at Returned. The clinician has changes to accept or reject on their end — see Send changes to a clinician.
The lock deadline is today and the review is not done. Prioritize the findings that change payment or compliance, resolve those, and lock. Cosmetic fixes are not worth a missed submission window.