# Self-administered drugs



## hollyce24 (Feb 26, 2010)

A patient has an in-hospital procedure (such as a cardiac catheterization) and is kept overnight for observation without being admitted.  The patient is supplied their usual medications by hospital staff.  Those medications were billed to medicare using a code classifying them as "self-administered," so they were denied.  In the research I've done, "self-administered" drugs are more distinctly defined than medications a patient usually takes on his/her own.  The patient does not take any of the medications listed in the self-administered drug tables.  Should this have been billed differently?


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## Walker22 (Feb 26, 2010)

Since the patient was technically outpatient, I would think that you could not bill for self-administered drugs.


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