Long-Term Care Survey Alert

Documentation Checklist:

Essentials for Supporting the Need for Skilled Services

The feds provide this cheat sheet for what to include in documentation for skilled nursing and therapy services:

  • The history and physical exam pertinent to the patient’s care, (including the response or changes in behavior to previously administered skilled services);
  • The skilled services provided;
  • The patient’s response to the skilled services provided during the current visit;
  • The plan for future care based on the rationale of prior results;
  • A detailed rationale that explains the need for the skilled service in light of the patient’s overall medical condition and experiences;
  • The complexity of the service to be performed;
  • Any other pertinent characteristics of the beneficiary.