When patients are set to be discharged from the hospital, they have the right to appeal that discharge decision. Hospitals have a duty to inform patients that they have this right by providing them with a required notification mandated by CMS called the Important Message from Medicare (IM).
Making discharge arrangements for patients leaving the facility can be challenging under the best of circumstances. But when a patient is a traveler, someone who will head back to another state or country, the difficulty factor increases exponentially.
Case managers are busy people. And in an era of budget cuts, they may find themselves strapped for time and resources. Due to these circumstances, some case managers might find themselves looking for methods to better manage their workload, including finding ways to focus their time on the neediest patients.
It's a scenario that plays out at hospitals across thecountry each day. A Medicare patient is scheduled for a procedure typically performed on an outpatient basis. But the patient has a number of preexisting health conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or diabetes, which are going to make the surgery and recovery more complicated.
Determining whether a patient should be an inpatient or on observation services can be a challenging call. If the wrong decision is made or the right decision isn't properly documented, the claim will likely be denied.
Sometimes the best care a patient can receive in the ED is to not be treated there at all. They can often have treatment needs and do received meds, but that does not necessarily entail an admission.
