The Katz assessment¶
The Katz scale measures a resident’s degree of dependency. It decides their care category, which is declared to the mutuality for the INAMI dependency allowance. In WideCare, data entry is guided and the category is computed for you.
The same list of assessments opens wherever you work:
Nursing Care → Evaluation Tools, entry Katz (INAMI);
Nursing Care → Care → Assessments → Katz Evaluations;
Billing → Katz Evaluations.
The criteria¶
Each criterion is rated from 1 (no help) to 4 (fully dependent), each level spelled out on the form:
Washing
Dressing
Transferring
Toileting
Continence
Eating
Time Orientation
Space Orientation
The two orientation criteria separate the categories with disorientation (Cd) from the others; they are not required when a specialist has diagnosed dementia. The Dementia and Coma blocks of the form record those diagnoses.
From these ratings, WideCare computes the category and the total score according to the regulations.
The categories¶
Category |
Meaning |
|---|---|
O |
Independent |
A |
Mild dependency |
B |
Moderate dependency |
C |
Severe dependency |
Cd |
Severe dependency with disorientation |
D |
Dementia diagnosed by a specialist |
Ccoma |
Comatose patient (special federal allowance, see Belgian settings) |
The allowance is the same for every category
Under the AViQ tariffs, the amount of the dependency allowance is identical for every category, including O. The category does not change the amount: it declares the right profile to the mutuality (see The INAMI allowance).
No validated Katz, no category
A resident who has no validated Katz has no category. When the period is generated, no INAMI allowance is billed for them, their row shows No Katz, and the period’s thread names them: validate their Katz, then regenerate. The Katz à faire counter of the period lists them.
Entering an assessment¶
Open the resident’s Katz smart button, or New in the Katz list.
Fill in the Date, the Evaluator and rate each criterion. If the assessment was done elsewhere (hospital, previous home), tick Assessed elsewhere and fill in Assessed by and Institution.
Click Confirm.
Click Sign: draw the signature, or tick Use my saved signature if your employee record carries one. Save as my signature keeps a drawing for the next assessments and for the eAgreement annexes.
Click Validate.
The assessment then moves through Draft → Confirmed → Validated → Sent (eAgreement). A nurse can confirm and sign; Validate is reserved to a head nurse or a physician, and a banner Awaiting validation says so to everyone else. A Current ribbon marks the assessment in force; a Category Changed ribbon marks one whose category differs from the previous one.
Print Annexe 10 prints the official grid at any time.
What WideCare does for you
On validation, WideCare takes the category into billing and, when the category changes, prepares the agreement request for the mutuality (Annexe 10). You never re-enter the category anywhere else. See Agreements (eAgreement).
Assessing a candidate before admission¶
On an admission request, the Katz scale block of the Resident Admission tab offers New Katz and Import a Katz (an assessment done elsewhere). The category is read in the sector the candidate asks for. See Admitting a resident in Belgium.
Renewal of the assessment¶
Each assessment carries a Next Evaluation date, and the list shows how many days remain. The filters Reassessment Overdue, Reassessment Due Soon (30 days), No Katz and All Needs Attention gather what to do; the last one also lists the Katz assessments still in draft or confirmed, which Evaluations to validate shows with the other scales. To renew, click Renew on a validated assessment: a new draft is created and the history is kept.
On the billing side, the dashboard counts the Katz to assess (no assessment, or reassessment due).
Worsening during the stay¶
If the resident’s condition deteriorates, enter a new assessment. When the category gets worse, the form asks for the Aggravation Justification: WideCare carries it into the agreement update (Annexe 10), which the clinician signs. The new category is billed once the mutuality agrees — see The INAMI dependency allowance.
A readmission after a long hospital stay may require a new assessment: WideCare prepares the draft and assigns an activity — see Belgian settings.
When the category no longer matches the bed¶
An MRS bed only takes categories B and above. A resident assessed at O or A belongs in an MR bed. WideCare refuses to put or keep a stay in MRS for a resident assessed at O or A — at admission and at transfer time. A room change is not blocked, though: the resident can still be moved from one room to another while the banner below stays up.
When a new assessment comes out at A while the resident occupies an MRS bed, WideCare says so instead of letting it pass. The banner appears as soon as you validate the assessment, and stays on the resident’s record until the sector is changed:
The Internal Transfer button on the banner opens the transfer wizard with the destination already set to MR — see Internal transfer (MR ↔ MRS).
The same signal follows the resident everywhere they are listed. On the board, the card carries an MRS → MR badge:
And the residents list has a Sector to be changed filter, to see everyone waiting for a transfer in one go:
The other way round, the occupancy board lists the MR residents an MRS bed admits, when MRS beds are free.
What this changes for billing
Until the transfer is done, the stay is still declared to the mutuality in MRS, with a category that sector does not accept. The banner is a task, not an informational note: the sooner the transfer is entered, the shorter the period to correct.
Learn more¶
The INAMI dependency allowance — from category to billed amount.
Geriatric assessments — the international scales beside Katz.
Management reports — the KAPPA control documents.