It stems from definitive treatment vs. pallative treatment. If the ED physician refers the patient to an ortho within 72 hours, he usually is not definitively treating the fracture, and expects the ortho to treat the fracture. It is frustrating, as many time on a simple fracture, the ED physician states to f/u with ortho in 24-48 hours for a simple fracture, and the patient does not, we lose on the fracture care, however, the physician is also stating in that statement that he is no longer LIABLE for the fracture care. He/She places the responsibility onto the patient. This is something to think about when you code a fracture care code vs. a splint.