Outpatient Facility Coding Alert

Question: A gastroenterologist sent his patient to the hematology unit as an outpatient for a blood transfusion. The patient was transfused by the nurse while the attending covering the unit was present. Does the attending needs to sign off on the report in order to bill even though he has never seen this patient before?

Ohio Subscriber

Answer: In this scenario, the attending covering the unit is responsible for reviewing orders and supervising the clinical staff in that department to ensure appropriate blood administration protocols and policies are followed. If the attending sees the patient during the encounter, then he/she should document this and manually or electronically sign as appropriate.

 

 

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