Wiki Hospitalist seeing Mental Health Patients

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beavert

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Our Hospitalist have starting doing consults for a Mental Health Facility for inpatient services. We are trying to figure out how to diagnosis these patients(all pediatrics) when the doctors are stating "otherwise healthy with no medical issues". What exactly is the reason they are seeing these patients? We have looked through the v-codes and cannot find anything suitable. They are not seeing them for the mental health issue..Any help would be appreciated.
 
beavert said:
Our Hospitalist have starting doing consults for a Mental Health Facility for inpatient services. We are trying to figure out how to diagnosis these patients(all pediatrics) when the doctors are stating "otherwise healthy with no medical issues". What exactly is the reason they are seeing these patients? We have looked through the v-codes and cannot find anything suitable. They are not seeing them for the mental health issue..Any help would be appreciated.
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What is the reason given for your hospitalist to be consulted? Do the consulting physicians list any problems whatsoever that need to be evaluated?
 
Maybe either the observation for suspected conditions (if it is documented why the hospitalist was called) or a well-child check? I would be concerned with the latter on the medical necessity.
 
First of all, I'd be careful about coding a consult visit as a matter of course, or as part of a standing protocol for your pedi patients. Without a condition or symptoms for which the attending has requested an opinon, or if you send the hospitalist in for EVERY kid who's admitted....particularly if there's no presenting problem, you are going to have trouble passing the medical-necessity sniff-test.

You have to ask---why is the hospitalist being called in? To address an issue outside the mental health diagnosis? If so, the symptom/disease would be the nature of the presenting problem. If the hospitalist is being called in to just check and see if the kid's otherwise healthy, then you're essentially doing well-child care.
 
The reason they are requested for a consult I believe is to make sure there are no medical issues while they are being treated at the facility...Of course there are the cases where something is wrong and we do code for that..Thanks for all the information, I thought well child but wanted to see if I was on the right track.
 
Just a thought here...

who is treating the patients while at the MH facility? If these are psychiatrists, they are trained in medicine as well. Or are these psychologists, CSW's, etc. and your hospitalists have to be called for medical examinations?
 
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