Wiki Observation/Inpatient

[pmartinez]

My provider was paged to give admit orders for a patient to tele. He went to the hospital examined the patient and dictated the H&P. The hospital put the patient on Observation status for the first 2 dates of admit even though the patient was in the hospital for 11 days. Would the first 2 days still be observation if the patient was admitted? The H&P was done first day and hospital has stated this was observation status? I am coding the professional charges and I am not sure what is correct. The wording for the CPT codes can go either way? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Patti Martinez, CPC

 

[Schuyler]

Inpatient pro fee billing starts when the order to admit has been written- observation is appropriate up until that time

 

[FTessaBartels]

Check the orders

Check the actual order for admission by the physician. Just because the hospital said the patient was in observation for 2 days does not mean that the physician ordered it that way. Either the hospital or you will have to change your coding to match the correct patient status as per physician orders.

F Tessa Bartels, CPC, CEMC