Wiki Timeline for completing documentation

[margieclark]

Does anyone have the Medicare (we are WPS) documentation or link that states how long a provider has to document for the services they provided?? I would be most appreciative.

Thank you.

 

[diann]

I had this same question. What I could find, was that it varies by state what is the allowable time frame for OP Reports ( I work for an ASC). Medicare and CMS basically say "reasonable" amount of time after service. I wish they would just make a definitive time frame, as some providers need that prodding, otherwise you could wait for weeks sometimes. I know where I worked before, we had a state auditor come in and said it was 48 hours, because how could a provider remember every exact detail of every patient that was seen in one day but a week later when they are dictating their report!!! She said in the interum they may have seen over a hundred or so patients and the memory is not that great and it would be easy to mix up patients. Just imagine what the providers had to say about that!--of course they had perfect memory!

Diann DoBran CPC, CPC-H

 

[sdeaton]

My PCPs document everything before they see the next patient (and they use scribes to help them with the documentation). If there is reason for a "late entry", it must be completed within 24-48 hrs. It's not set in stone anywhere or in writing that I've been able to locate, except the CMS language that Diann referenced. Simply put, this is our office policy.