For many patients, home health services can mean the difference between a successful recovery and a hospital readmission, but patients who need services go without because of confusion over eligibility requirements.
Improving the hospital experience for patients, improving the quality of care, and reducing costs were the goals when case managers at Martin's Point Healthcare in Portland, Maine, stopped working independently and started working as teams.
Physician advisors provide a critical link between case management and physicians; it's a position that requires deft communication skills, regulatory know-how, and a stiff backbone.
Consider this scenario: A physician orders three hours of hydration as well as a one-hour therapeutic antibiotic infusion for a patient. A nurse documents the hydration start time as 10 a.m. and the antibiotic start time as 11 a.m. Neither provider documents a stop time. What should coders report?
