Wiki 0ral medication in observation

[teresa]

I am wondering how many bill for po medication in observation? Our hospital had a billing consultant come in, and they said you could not bill for po meds in observation. I can not find any conceret information about this . PLEASE can someone help or have a thought?

 

[woodsusa]

I don't know of any reason why you cannot bill a patient for self administered drugs. There are several publications by CMS, meant for patients, that advise them of their responsibility as outpatients. The link below is one from My Medicare.gov. You can also Google " Medicare Are you an inpatient or outpatient ...Ask " and it will lead you to another good publication from the beneficiary's point of view. Hope this helps.
http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11408.pdf