All Entries Tagged With: "inpatient"
Admitting patients to “inpatient status”
I received a question recently about admitting patients to “inpatient status.” This was specifically related to a patient who is in the Emergency Department, and a physician writes the order “admit to inpatient;” the patient remains in the ED waiting for a bed (they may be considered an ED boarder).
From what I found in the reference below–found on the CMS website–the patient is considered “admitted to inpatient” when the order is written (dated and timed). For patients in observation being admitted to inpatient, this fact can have an impact on whether he/she was on the midnight census of the admitting date – which can then count toward the 3 day acute inpatient day making him/her eligible for extended care benefits.
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Inpatient or observation, now that is the question
Just as you get your processes and procedures in place and staff trained on what is Observation and what is Inpatient, along comes Medicare! For acute care hospitals, how do we know if a patient should be Inpatient or Observation? First, and most importantly, you must have consistent processes and criteria to appropriately and proactively establish the appropriate placement of patient.
Here are a few questions to ask when determining the Medical necessity and appropriate status placement:
