Wiki Transitional Care Management

[BRisser]

Hi, I am looking for some clarification on TCM services mainly on interactive contact. In the CMS mln booklet they state "Within 2 business days following the beneficiary's discharge, you must make an interactive contact with them and/or their caregiver via telephone, email, or face-to-face." I can't really find much information as to what counts as a face-to-face contact. My question is if a patient is discharged from the hospital on a Friday and seen for their TCM visit on Monday does that count as their face-to-face contact or do the providers still need to make a TCM phone call?

Thanks for any insight!!

 

[Pathos]

Good morning.

As you reference from the CMS booklet "Within 2 business days" the provider needs to make contact with the beneficiary. In general "business days" are considered Monday-Friday, so in your example the provider actually contacted the patient on the next business day.

"Face-to-face" refers to the provider and patient meeting each other face-to-face, i.e. a provider visit, as opposed to a non-face-to-face visit (like a phone call).