Initial visit, subsequent visit, or discharge services—no matter what was provided, reporting the appropriate code for hospital E/M services requires thorough documentation. First, coders must know whether the patient was in observation or admitted to the hospital. Then, they’ll need a sharp eye for detail and an in-depth knowledge of coding guidelines to avoid money-draining underpayments and denials.

According to the latest CERT report data, claims for hospital visits have a high error rate, and the chief cause of denials varies depending on the codes involved. Insufficient documentation is most likely to be the downfall of same-day observation discharge management and observation care (99217, 99218–99226), incorrect coding is usually what snarls inpatient services (99221–99223, 99231–99233), and discharge services (99234–99239) are equally prone to incorrect coding and insufficient documentation mistakes. In addition, CMS recently approved a recovery audit of subsequent hospital care codes.

Don’t leave your hospital visit claims open to failure—join coding and compliance veteran Maxine Lewis on September 17 and learn how to protect your coding for observation, inpatient, and discharge services.

At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:-

• Identify complete and incomplete documentation for hospital E/M visits
• Select the appropriate level and code for observation, inpatient, and discharge services
• Accurately report split/shared services and inpatient consults

Agenda:-

• Observation care
  • Orders
  • Initial
  • Subsequent
• Inpatient care
  • Admission
    • Modifier -AI (Principal physician of record)
  • Initial
  • Subsequent
• Observation-to-inpatient transfers
• Discharge services
  • Same-day admission and discharge for observation and inpatient care
  • Discharge day management
• Split/shared visits
• Inpatient consults

Who Should Attend?

• Coders
• Billers
• Compliance officers
• Physicians
• Nonphysician practitioners