Floor/unit time

[missy874]

I have some psych providers that are billing based on time. This is INPATIENT, so floor/unit time is considered with coordination of care. One of our coders does not believe that discussion with nursing staff should be considered? Does anyone else concur??
I strongly feel it is part of coordination of care, especially when they document what was discussed....
Any thoughts?
Please help, as we are trying to educate our providers and do not want to lead them astray at all.

Thanks,

 

[mhstrauss]

I don't know much about psych services, but in the E/M section, under "Hospital Inpatient Services", there is a paragraph that discusses the "time counted" topic; I believe in the situation you described that the time the doctor spend discussing care should be counted. It's alot to type, but if you read that section, that should give you all the documentation you need to advice your doctors appropriately. Hope this helps!