Wiki Home Health Coding from Inpatient Documentation

[LLBS29XX]

I code for Home Health which is new to me. I am finding that the Oasis SOC needs to be coded on a patient not yet discharged from the hospital so we can get ins approval. We do not have a discharge summary so I am having to code from H &P and a F2F. This leads to unspecified diagnosis which I don't feel good about. Is there a protocol where we should be coding from the discharge? I find the F2F often times often vague for specified diagnosis. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[arramire]

Coding before discharge

I code for Home Health which is new to me. I am finding that the Oasis SOC needs to be coded on a patient not yet discharged from the hospital so we can get ins approval. We do not have a discharge summary so I am having to code from H &P and a F2F. This leads to unspecified diagnosis which I don't feel good about. Is there a protocol where we should be coding from the discharge? I find the F2F often times often vague for specified diagnosis. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It happens, like everyday....


Just do the best you can with what you have.

From what I understand, and i'm note sure on percentages but most agencies code after the open.

We code before the open, so 30%-40% of the time, we don't have H&P, DC summary, but are still expected to code...

I can code off the consults, and op reports pretty confidently, but I usually try to at least get the two most recent progress notes to see the patients condition as close to discharge as possible.

Also, if you have access, see how the hospital inpatient coders coded the patient, that also will give you a general idea, but not definitive.