jdibble
True Blue
Can anyone explain which this would be - According to the status on my report, the patient is listed as Inpatient. However patient was admitted say at 4:00pm on the first day, and then discharged at 3:30pm the next day. The patient was in the hospital less than 24 hours. The billing department has stated that insurance has been denying the intial visit and discharge visits billed, however if they rebill with the initial observation and discharge, 99218-99220 & 99217, they are paying. So now the person who enters the charges has been changing the Initial visit and discharge codes billed for any inpatients whose stays are less than 24 hours to the observation codes.
My question is if a patient is admitted as an inpatient, not observation, but stays less than 24 hours is that now automatically considered observation and the coding needs to be changed? Or was the coding correct and the claim needs to be appealed?
Thanks for any input.
Jodi Dibble, CPC
My question is if a patient is admitted as an inpatient, not observation, but stays less than 24 hours is that now automatically considered observation and the coding needs to be changed? Or was the coding correct and the claim needs to be appealed?
Thanks for any input.
Jodi Dibble, CPC