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Wiki Billing observation
- Thread starter jessb18
- Start date
lgardner
Guest
here is a link to another post that discusses this (and some issues that were happening at the beginning of the year):
https://www.aapc.com/discuss/threads/2023-observation-inpatient-pos-issues.190677/
**EDITED to add** another link, because that one doesn't, actually answer your question.
per https://www.todayshospitalist.com/Answers-to-your-questions-on-observation-and-discharge-codes/#:~:text=If%20a%20patient%20was%20in,then%20go%20with%20POS%2021.
Q. We continue to have problems with documenting the “place of service” for observation service codes 99234-99236. If we use POS 21, which denotes an inpatient service, the carrier tells us that the patient was not an admitted inpatient. But if we use POS 22, which denotes an outpatient service, the carrier tells us that we didn’t request preauthorization for the inpatient. Any suggestions?
A. I would let the physician’s documentation drive the appropriate place of service. If a patient was in observation, then use POS 22. But if the patient was actually admitted and discharged on the same day, then go with POS 21.
https://www.aapc.com/discuss/threads/2023-observation-inpatient-pos-issues.190677/
**EDITED to add** another link, because that one doesn't, actually answer your question.
per https://www.todayshospitalist.com/Answers-to-your-questions-on-observation-and-discharge-codes/#:~:text=If%20a%20patient%20was%20in,then%20go%20with%20POS%2021.
Q. We continue to have problems with documenting the “place of service” for observation service codes 99234-99236. If we use POS 21, which denotes an inpatient service, the carrier tells us that the patient was not an admitted inpatient. But if we use POS 22, which denotes an outpatient service, the carrier tells us that we didn’t request preauthorization for the inpatient. Any suggestions?
A. I would let the physician’s documentation drive the appropriate place of service. If a patient was in observation, then use POS 22. But if the patient was actually admitted and discharged on the same day, then go with POS 21.
AmandaBriggs
Expert
Patients in observation status that were not admitted by your provider/group are billed with POS 22 and the 99211-99205 E/M codes.