Discharge Services

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Discharge Services

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Discharge day management services (99238-99239) seem unlikely to cause confusion in the physician community; however, continued requests for documentation involving these CPT codes prove the opposite.

Here’s an example of how a billing error might be made for discharge day management services. A patient with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease is stable for discharge. The patient is being transferred to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). Dr. Aardsma prepares the patient for hospital discharge, and Dr. Broxton admits the patient to the SNF later that day. Dr. Aardsma and Dr. Broxton are members of the same group practice, with the same specialty designation. Can both physicians report their services?

FAQ

Question: A patient is admitted to the hospital but his condition warrants transfer to another facility, and he is discharged on the same day. How should the physician report his services?

Answer: Do not report 99238-99239 when the patient is admitted and discharged on the same calendar date. When this occurs, the physician selects from 99221-99223 (initial inpatient care) or 99234-99236 (admission and discharge on the same day). Choose 99234-99238 when the patient stay is >8 hours on the same calendar day and the insurer accepts these codes. Documentation must reflect two components of service: the corresponding elements of both the admission and discharge, and the duration of time the patient spent in the hospital. Alternately, if the patient stay is <8 hours, or the insurer does not recognize 99234-99236 (admission and discharge on the same day), report only initial inpatient care (99221-99223) as appropriate.⁷

Key Elements

Consider the basic billing principles of discharge services: what, who, and when.

Hospital discharge day management codes are used to report the physician’s total duration of time spent preparing the patient for discharge. These codes include, as appropriate:

Final examination of the patient;

Discussion of the hospital stay, even if the time spent by the physician on that date is not continuous;

Instructions for continuing care to all relevant caregivers; and

Preparation of discharge records, prescriptions, and referral forms.¹

Hospitalists should report one discharge code per hospitalization, but only when the service occurs after the initial date of admission: 99238, hospital discharge day management, 30 minutes or less; or 99239, hospital discharge day management, more than 30 minutes.^1,2 Select one of the two codes, depending upon the cumulative discharge service time provided on the patient’s hospital unit/floor during a single calendar day. Do not count time for services performed outside of the patient’s unit or floor (i.e., calls to the receiving physician/facility made from the physician’s private office) or services performed after the patient physically leaves the hospital.

Physician documentation must refer to the discharge status, as well as other clinically relevant information. Don’t be misled into believing that the presence of a discharge summary alone satisfies documentation requirements. In addition to the discharge groundwork, hospitalists must physically see the patient on the day he or she reports discharge management. Discharge summaries are not always useful in noting the physician’s required face-to-face encounter with the patient. Simply state, “Patient seen and examined by me on discharge day.”

Alternatively, hospitalists can elect to include details of a discharge day exam. Although a final exam isn’t mandatory for billing 99238-99239, it is the best justification of a face-to-face encounter on discharge day. Documentation of the time is required when reporting 99239 (e.g., discharge time >30 minutes). Time isn’t typically included in a discharge summary, and upon post-payment payor review, a claim involving 99239 without documented time in the patient’s medical record might result in either a service reduction to the lower level of care (99238) or a request for payment refund.³ Physicians can document all necessary details in the formal summary or a progress note.

Update: Not All Consults Meet 99221 Minimum Requirements

As payors adapt to the elimination of consultation codes, contractors have issued clarification statements outlining the finer details. Some payors have commented on physician reporting of “consultative” services that do not meet the minimum requirements of initial hospital care. For example, what should physicians report in place of the old consults codes (99251 and 99252), as the documentation standards are lower than that of 99221?

Cigna Government Services issued a statement that says, “CMS has instructed contractors to not find fault with providers who report a subsequent hospital care CPT code (99231 or 99232), in cases where the medical record appropriately demonstrates that the work and medical necessity requirements are met for reporting a subsequent hospital care code for an initial hospital E/M service.”⁸

CMS has alerted Medicare administrative contractor audit staffs, as well as Medicare recovery audit contractors, of this expectation.—CP

Transfers of Care

The admitting physician or group is responsible for performing discharge services unless a formal transfer of care occurs, such as the patient’s transfer from the ICU to the standard medical floor as the patient’s condition improves. Without this transfer of care, comanaging physicians should merely report subsequent hospital-care codes (99231-99233) for the final patient encounter. An example of this is surgical comanagement: If a surgeon is identified as the attending of record, they are responsible for postoperative management of the patient, including discharge services.^4,5 Providers in a different group or specialty report 99231-99233 for their medically necessary care.

As with all other time-based services, only the billing provider’s time counts. Discharge-related services performed by residents, students, or ancillary staff (i.e., RNs) do not count toward the physician’s discharge service time. Report the date of the physician’s actual discharge visit even if the patient leaves the facility on a different calendar date—for example, if a patient leaves the next day due to availability of the receiving facility.

Pronouncement of Death

Physicians might not realize that they can report discharge day management codes for pronouncement of death.⁷ Only the hospitalist who performs the pronouncement is allowed to report this service on the date pronouncement occurred, even if the paperwork is delayed to a subsequent date. Completion of the death certificate alone is not sufficient for billing. Hospitalists must “examine” the patient, thus satisfying the “face to face” visit requirement.

Additional services (e.g., speaking with family members, speaking with healthcare providers, filling out the necessary documentation) count toward the cumulative discharge service time, if performed on the patient’s unit or floor. Document the cumulative time when reporting 99239.

Back to the Case

Typical billing and payment rules mandate the reporting of only one E/M service per specialty, per patient, per day. One of the few exceptions involves reporting a hospital discharge code (99238-99239) with initial nursing facility care (99304-99306). Either the same physician or different physicians from the same group and specialty can report the hospital discharge and the nursing facility admission on the same day. When the same physician or group discharges the patient from any other location (e.g., observation unit) on the same day, report only one service: either the observation discharge (99217) or the initial nursing facility care (99304-99306).

When the same physician or group discharges a patient from the hospital and admits the patient to a facility other than a nursing facility on the same day, report only one service: either the hospital discharge (99228-99239) or the admission care (e.g., long-term acute-care hospital: 99221-99223). TH

Carol Pohlig is a billing and coding expert with the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia. She is also on the faculty of SHM’s inpatient coding course.

References

Abraham M, Beebe M, Dalton J, Evans D, Glenn R. Current Procedural Terminology Professional Edition. Chicago: American Medical Association Press; 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 30.6.9.1C. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 3, 2010.

Highmark Medicare Services Provider Bulletins: Hospital Discharge Day Management Codes 99238 and 99239. Highmark Medicare Services Web site. Available at: www.highmarkmedicareservices.com/bulletins/partb/news02212008a.html. Accessed March 4, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 40.1A. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 40.3B. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site, Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 30.6.9.2E. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 30.6.9.1d. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Reporting inpatient hospital evaluation and management (E/M) services that could be described by current procedural terminology (CPT) consultation codes. Cigna Government Services Web site. Available at: www.cignagovernmentservices.com/partb/pubs/news/2010/0210/cope11694.html. Accessed March 5, 2010.

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Discharge day management services (99238-99239) seem unlikely to cause confusion in the physician community; however, continued requests for documentation involving these CPT codes prove the opposite.

Here’s an example of how a billing error might be made for discharge day management services. A patient with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease is stable for discharge. The patient is being transferred to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). Dr. Aardsma prepares the patient for hospital discharge, and Dr. Broxton admits the patient to the SNF later that day. Dr. Aardsma and Dr. Broxton are members of the same group practice, with the same specialty designation. Can both physicians report their services?

FAQ

Question: A patient is admitted to the hospital but his condition warrants transfer to another facility, and he is discharged on the same day. How should the physician report his services?

Answer: Do not report 99238-99239 when the patient is admitted and discharged on the same calendar date. When this occurs, the physician selects from 99221-99223 (initial inpatient care) or 99234-99236 (admission and discharge on the same day). Choose 99234-99238 when the patient stay is >8 hours on the same calendar day and the insurer accepts these codes. Documentation must reflect two components of service: the corresponding elements of both the admission and discharge, and the duration of time the patient spent in the hospital. Alternately, if the patient stay is <8 hours, or the insurer does not recognize 99234-99236 (admission and discharge on the same day), report only initial inpatient care (99221-99223) as appropriate.⁷

Key Elements

Consider the basic billing principles of discharge services: what, who, and when.

Hospital discharge day management codes are used to report the physician’s total duration of time spent preparing the patient for discharge. These codes include, as appropriate:

Final examination of the patient;

Discussion of the hospital stay, even if the time spent by the physician on that date is not continuous;

Instructions for continuing care to all relevant caregivers; and

Preparation of discharge records, prescriptions, and referral forms.¹

Hospitalists should report one discharge code per hospitalization, but only when the service occurs after the initial date of admission: 99238, hospital discharge day management, 30 minutes or less; or 99239, hospital discharge day management, more than 30 minutes.^1,2 Select one of the two codes, depending upon the cumulative discharge service time provided on the patient’s hospital unit/floor during a single calendar day. Do not count time for services performed outside of the patient’s unit or floor (i.e., calls to the receiving physician/facility made from the physician’s private office) or services performed after the patient physically leaves the hospital.

Physician documentation must refer to the discharge status, as well as other clinically relevant information. Don’t be misled into believing that the presence of a discharge summary alone satisfies documentation requirements. In addition to the discharge groundwork, hospitalists must physically see the patient on the day he or she reports discharge management. Discharge summaries are not always useful in noting the physician’s required face-to-face encounter with the patient. Simply state, “Patient seen and examined by me on discharge day.”

Alternatively, hospitalists can elect to include details of a discharge day exam. Although a final exam isn’t mandatory for billing 99238-99239, it is the best justification of a face-to-face encounter on discharge day. Documentation of the time is required when reporting 99239 (e.g., discharge time >30 minutes). Time isn’t typically included in a discharge summary, and upon post-payment payor review, a claim involving 99239 without documented time in the patient’s medical record might result in either a service reduction to the lower level of care (99238) or a request for payment refund.³ Physicians can document all necessary details in the formal summary or a progress note.

Update: Not All Consults Meet 99221 Minimum Requirements

As payors adapt to the elimination of consultation codes, contractors have issued clarification statements outlining the finer details. Some payors have commented on physician reporting of “consultative” services that do not meet the minimum requirements of initial hospital care. For example, what should physicians report in place of the old consults codes (99251 and 99252), as the documentation standards are lower than that of 99221?

Cigna Government Services issued a statement that says, “CMS has instructed contractors to not find fault with providers who report a subsequent hospital care CPT code (99231 or 99232), in cases where the medical record appropriately demonstrates that the work and medical necessity requirements are met for reporting a subsequent hospital care code for an initial hospital E/M service.”⁸

CMS has alerted Medicare administrative contractor audit staffs, as well as Medicare recovery audit contractors, of this expectation.—CP

Transfers of Care

The admitting physician or group is responsible for performing discharge services unless a formal transfer of care occurs, such as the patient’s transfer from the ICU to the standard medical floor as the patient’s condition improves. Without this transfer of care, comanaging physicians should merely report subsequent hospital-care codes (99231-99233) for the final patient encounter. An example of this is surgical comanagement: If a surgeon is identified as the attending of record, they are responsible for postoperative management of the patient, including discharge services.^4,5 Providers in a different group or specialty report 99231-99233 for their medically necessary care.

As with all other time-based services, only the billing provider’s time counts. Discharge-related services performed by residents, students, or ancillary staff (i.e., RNs) do not count toward the physician’s discharge service time. Report the date of the physician’s actual discharge visit even if the patient leaves the facility on a different calendar date—for example, if a patient leaves the next day due to availability of the receiving facility.

Pronouncement of Death

Physicians might not realize that they can report discharge day management codes for pronouncement of death.⁷ Only the hospitalist who performs the pronouncement is allowed to report this service on the date pronouncement occurred, even if the paperwork is delayed to a subsequent date. Completion of the death certificate alone is not sufficient for billing. Hospitalists must “examine” the patient, thus satisfying the “face to face” visit requirement.

Additional services (e.g., speaking with family members, speaking with healthcare providers, filling out the necessary documentation) count toward the cumulative discharge service time, if performed on the patient’s unit or floor. Document the cumulative time when reporting 99239.

Back to the Case

Typical billing and payment rules mandate the reporting of only one E/M service per specialty, per patient, per day. One of the few exceptions involves reporting a hospital discharge code (99238-99239) with initial nursing facility care (99304-99306). Either the same physician or different physicians from the same group and specialty can report the hospital discharge and the nursing facility admission on the same day. When the same physician or group discharges the patient from any other location (e.g., observation unit) on the same day, report only one service: either the observation discharge (99217) or the initial nursing facility care (99304-99306).

When the same physician or group discharges a patient from the hospital and admits the patient to a facility other than a nursing facility on the same day, report only one service: either the hospital discharge (99228-99239) or the admission care (e.g., long-term acute-care hospital: 99221-99223). TH

Carol Pohlig is a billing and coding expert with the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia. She is also on the faculty of SHM’s inpatient coding course.

References

Abraham M, Beebe M, Dalton J, Evans D, Glenn R. Current Procedural Terminology Professional Edition. Chicago: American Medical Association Press; 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 30.6.9.1C. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 3, 2010.

Highmark Medicare Services Provider Bulletins: Hospital Discharge Day Management Codes 99238 and 99239. Highmark Medicare Services Web site. Available at: www.highmarkmedicareservices.com/bulletins/partb/news02212008a.html. Accessed March 4, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 40.1A. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 40.3B. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site, Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 30.6.9.2E. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 30.6.9.1d. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Reporting inpatient hospital evaluation and management (E/M) services that could be described by current procedural terminology (CPT) consultation codes. Cigna Government Services Web site. Available at: www.cignagovernmentservices.com/partb/pubs/news/2010/0210/cope11694.html. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Discharge day management services (99238-99239) seem unlikely to cause confusion in the physician community; however, continued requests for documentation involving these CPT codes prove the opposite.

Here’s an example of how a billing error might be made for discharge day management services. A patient with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease is stable for discharge. The patient is being transferred to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). Dr. Aardsma prepares the patient for hospital discharge, and Dr. Broxton admits the patient to the SNF later that day. Dr. Aardsma and Dr. Broxton are members of the same group practice, with the same specialty designation. Can both physicians report their services?

FAQ

Question: A patient is admitted to the hospital but his condition warrants transfer to another facility, and he is discharged on the same day. How should the physician report his services?

Answer: Do not report 99238-99239 when the patient is admitted and discharged on the same calendar date. When this occurs, the physician selects from 99221-99223 (initial inpatient care) or 99234-99236 (admission and discharge on the same day). Choose 99234-99238 when the patient stay is >8 hours on the same calendar day and the insurer accepts these codes. Documentation must reflect two components of service: the corresponding elements of both the admission and discharge, and the duration of time the patient spent in the hospital. Alternately, if the patient stay is <8 hours, or the insurer does not recognize 99234-99236 (admission and discharge on the same day), report only initial inpatient care (99221-99223) as appropriate.⁷

Key Elements

Consider the basic billing principles of discharge services: what, who, and when.

Hospital discharge day management codes are used to report the physician’s total duration of time spent preparing the patient for discharge. These codes include, as appropriate:

Final examination of the patient;

Discussion of the hospital stay, even if the time spent by the physician on that date is not continuous;

Instructions for continuing care to all relevant caregivers; and

Preparation of discharge records, prescriptions, and referral forms.¹

Hospitalists should report one discharge code per hospitalization, but only when the service occurs after the initial date of admission: 99238, hospital discharge day management, 30 minutes or less; or 99239, hospital discharge day management, more than 30 minutes.^1,2 Select one of the two codes, depending upon the cumulative discharge service time provided on the patient’s hospital unit/floor during a single calendar day. Do not count time for services performed outside of the patient’s unit or floor (i.e., calls to the receiving physician/facility made from the physician’s private office) or services performed after the patient physically leaves the hospital.

Physician documentation must refer to the discharge status, as well as other clinically relevant information. Don’t be misled into believing that the presence of a discharge summary alone satisfies documentation requirements. In addition to the discharge groundwork, hospitalists must physically see the patient on the day he or she reports discharge management. Discharge summaries are not always useful in noting the physician’s required face-to-face encounter with the patient. Simply state, “Patient seen and examined by me on discharge day.”

Alternatively, hospitalists can elect to include details of a discharge day exam. Although a final exam isn’t mandatory for billing 99238-99239, it is the best justification of a face-to-face encounter on discharge day. Documentation of the time is required when reporting 99239 (e.g., discharge time >30 minutes). Time isn’t typically included in a discharge summary, and upon post-payment payor review, a claim involving 99239 without documented time in the patient’s medical record might result in either a service reduction to the lower level of care (99238) or a request for payment refund.³ Physicians can document all necessary details in the formal summary or a progress note.

Update: Not All Consults Meet 99221 Minimum Requirements

As payors adapt to the elimination of consultation codes, contractors have issued clarification statements outlining the finer details. Some payors have commented on physician reporting of “consultative” services that do not meet the minimum requirements of initial hospital care. For example, what should physicians report in place of the old consults codes (99251 and 99252), as the documentation standards are lower than that of 99221?

Cigna Government Services issued a statement that says, “CMS has instructed contractors to not find fault with providers who report a subsequent hospital care CPT code (99231 or 99232), in cases where the medical record appropriately demonstrates that the work and medical necessity requirements are met for reporting a subsequent hospital care code for an initial hospital E/M service.”⁸

CMS has alerted Medicare administrative contractor audit staffs, as well as Medicare recovery audit contractors, of this expectation.—CP

Transfers of Care

The admitting physician or group is responsible for performing discharge services unless a formal transfer of care occurs, such as the patient’s transfer from the ICU to the standard medical floor as the patient’s condition improves. Without this transfer of care, comanaging physicians should merely report subsequent hospital-care codes (99231-99233) for the final patient encounter. An example of this is surgical comanagement: If a surgeon is identified as the attending of record, they are responsible for postoperative management of the patient, including discharge services.^4,5 Providers in a different group or specialty report 99231-99233 for their medically necessary care.

As with all other time-based services, only the billing provider’s time counts. Discharge-related services performed by residents, students, or ancillary staff (i.e., RNs) do not count toward the physician’s discharge service time. Report the date of the physician’s actual discharge visit even if the patient leaves the facility on a different calendar date—for example, if a patient leaves the next day due to availability of the receiving facility.

Pronouncement of Death

Physicians might not realize that they can report discharge day management codes for pronouncement of death.⁷ Only the hospitalist who performs the pronouncement is allowed to report this service on the date pronouncement occurred, even if the paperwork is delayed to a subsequent date. Completion of the death certificate alone is not sufficient for billing. Hospitalists must “examine” the patient, thus satisfying the “face to face” visit requirement.

Additional services (e.g., speaking with family members, speaking with healthcare providers, filling out the necessary documentation) count toward the cumulative discharge service time, if performed on the patient’s unit or floor. Document the cumulative time when reporting 99239.

Back to the Case

Typical billing and payment rules mandate the reporting of only one E/M service per specialty, per patient, per day. One of the few exceptions involves reporting a hospital discharge code (99238-99239) with initial nursing facility care (99304-99306). Either the same physician or different physicians from the same group and specialty can report the hospital discharge and the nursing facility admission on the same day. When the same physician or group discharges the patient from any other location (e.g., observation unit) on the same day, report only one service: either the observation discharge (99217) or the initial nursing facility care (99304-99306).

When the same physician or group discharges a patient from the hospital and admits the patient to a facility other than a nursing facility on the same day, report only one service: either the hospital discharge (99228-99239) or the admission care (e.g., long-term acute-care hospital: 99221-99223). TH

Carol Pohlig is a billing and coding expert with the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia. She is also on the faculty of SHM’s inpatient coding course.

References

Abraham M, Beebe M, Dalton J, Evans D, Glenn R. Current Procedural Terminology Professional Edition. Chicago: American Medical Association Press; 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 30.6.9.1C. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 3, 2010.

Highmark Medicare Services Provider Bulletins: Hospital Discharge Day Management Codes 99238 and 99239. Highmark Medicare Services Web site. Available at: www.highmarkmedicareservices.com/bulletins/partb/news02212008a.html. Accessed March 4, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 40.1A. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 40.3B. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site, Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 30.6.9.2E. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Medicare Claims Processing Manual: Chapter 12, Section 30.6.9.1d. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site. Available at: www.cms.hhs.gov/manuals/downloads/clm104c12.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2010.

Reporting inpatient hospital evaluation and management (E/M) services that could be described by current procedural terminology (CPT) consultation codes. Cigna Government Services Web site. Available at: www.cignagovernmentservices.com/partb/pubs/news/2010/0210/cope11694.html. Accessed March 5, 2010.