Ensure ED Providers Document All Their Critical Care Time

The appropriate critical care codes are determined by the physician’s total time.

On-target provider documentation is critical to reimbursement – more specifically for time-based codes for services such as critical care. Auditors are increasingly cynical of generic documentation that’s not specific to the patient or encounter. Using 30-74 minutes language that’s included in some templates and EMRs seem to fit the CPT^® code descriptors. However, don’t rely solely on attestation.

Make sure that your Emergency Department (ED) providers are well-equipped with what documentation is needed to substantiate the time reported.

Where to get time-based documentation guidelines? 

·         CPT Book: CPT^® mentions that “Time spent with the individual patient should be recorded in the patient’s record”.

·         CMS Manual: “The physician’s progress note(s) shall document the total time that critical care services were provided”. CMS transmittals also tell us that the use of “shall” denotes a mandatory requirement.

Physicians and coders watch out: ““The physician’s progress note(s) in the medical record should demonstrate that time involved in the performance of separately billable procedures was not counted toward critical care time.”

Ensure the highest standard of documentation

CPT^® code 99291 doesn’t use numerical documentation requirements for history, physical exam and medical decision making for code selection the way E/M codes do. As an alternative, the proper critical codes are determined by the physician’s total attention time.

Warning: But that does not mean that those E/M elements can be omitted from a critical care chart. These elements are required to show that the patient has a critical illness or injury that deeply impairs one or more vital organ systems such that there’s a high likelihood of looming or life threatening weakening in the patient’s condition.

Heed this: For on-target critical care reporting, document should point to the total amount of time the physician devoted their full attention to the patient providing critical care services. It would be ideal to see a short explanation of the critical nature of the patient, the critical interventions and other activities that added up to XX minutes to make a bullet proof chart.

According to many policy resources, the physician should document their total attention time, and ED physicians should document to that standard. The time range indicated in the code descriptor is for the coder to use to choose the appropriate CPT^® code based on the total time documented by the physician.

Your documentation should comply with coding guidelines and CMS policy to ensure that there’s no room for the auditor to argue that the ED chart doesn’t correctly reflect the service that was provided and/or the code that was reported.  If you need more help to ensure this and increase your compliance confidence, use Inpatient Facility Coding & Compliance Alert - a monthly newsletter that boosts your bottom-line and ensures compliance by focusing on topics specifics to hospitals – from time-based coding guidance, documentation advice and ICD-10-PCS implementation tips to DRG selection, modifier usage advice, and more.

Avoid 4 ‘Discharge Coding Traps’ to Ensure Correct Pay for your Facility

CMS does not expressly mention that the physician must see the patient on the discharge date in order to bill a discharge code. Watch your steps for next day discharge.

Reporting discharged services are not as straightforward as they seem; even skilled coders don’t get it right sometimes. Staying clear of these four common mistakes in your facility claims can save you thousands of dollars.

Who bills when multiple physicians are involved

During a patient care, several physicians might be involved, and each of them might try to bill for the discharge. If you read the Medicare Claims Processing Manual, you’ll find that only the attending physician should bill for the discharge day management service. Physicians or non-qualified practitioners, other than the attending physician, will have to use Subsequent Hospital Care (CPT^® code range 99231- 99233) for a final visit.

Heed this: To help distinguish from other physicians who might become involved in the patient’s care, the admitting physician should add modifier AI (principal physician of record) to the relevant admission code.

When is a patient not eligible for discharge code

There could be many scenarios when a patient may not be eligible for a discharge code. For instance, you should never report a discharge code if the patient never made the exit from the emergency room or was never admitted as an inpatient. Instead, the applicable ED service code (99281-99285, Emergency department visit for the evaluation and management of a patient …) should be used. One more instance could be that a patient has been admitted as an inpatient, however, at the last hour, the patient is changed to an observation case. In some cases, the documentation for such cases may be delayed. 

Next day discharge ensnare

A patient treats a patient on Monday and says that she can go home the following day if she doesn’t have any more vomiting or pain. If the physician does not see the patient on Tuesday, some coders will feel hesitant to bill a discharge on the date that the physician does not see the patient.

But note that CMS does not anywhere mention that the physician must see the patient on the discharge date to bill a discharge code.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual reads: “The E/M discharge day management visit shall be reported for the date of the actual visit by the physician or qualified non-physician practitioner even if the patient is discharged from the facility on a different calendar date.”Although the patient’s actual day of discharge is Tuesday, all the work was completed on Monday.

Remember: In the manual, CMS leaves it open for interpretation so till the time it clarifies it, follow your local MAC’s advice on coding discharges.

Nonphysician practitioners can perform the discharge

Even a non-physician practitioner can perform the discharge, provided all of the rules are met.

Coding discharge inappropriately and not following correct guidelines could mean leaving your facility’s much deserved money on the table. Your facility needs to have a finely honed process involving coding, billing and compliance to ensure that the initial claim goes out correctly and gets paid correctly. You could look at Inpatient Facility Coding and Reimbursement Alert to help you establish the process and guide you on the essentials for successful inpatient coding and pay.