Pulmonology Coding Alert

Deciding on admission? That's your signal to look at observation family. You can quickly pin down which observation code (99218-99220 or 99234-99236) pair to use if you zoom in on the stay's date(s) and length. Ensure your observation claims are accurate simply by following this plan: Step 1: Confirm Observation Service Before coding, be sure that the service actually qualifies as an observation, confirms Carol Pohlig, BSN, RN, CPC, ACS, senior coding and education specialist at the University of Pennsylvania department of medicine in Philadelphia. Observation is a hospital-based outpatient service used to determine if a patient needs inpatient care. So when you're reviewing the notes, ensure claim correctness by checking the encounter specifics against this observation definition. Observation: The pulmonologist evaluates a patient at the hospital who is experiencing shortness of breath and acute exacerbation of asthma and admits the patient to observation status to run tests and make [...]