Inpatient vs. Observation: Can You Make it Simple?
These Industry Veterans show HOW!
It is perhaps the most vexing issue for providers, hospitals and patients: the effect of merely classifying a hospital stay as either Inpatient or Outpatient. Yes, we know OBS is not a status...
For both providers and patients, this is the veritable “distinction without a difference” – except that both will see a difference in their bank acount.
Recorded Live Thursday, June 25
Two Industry Veterans review how revenue cycle professionals can enact a simple system of both thinking about the differences, and enabling processes to choose the proper patient status. How does one create something like that, which is systematic, reliable, efficient and adaptable? The endeavor seems more like an infinite game of Whack-a-Mole than a studied, sensible method of applying business rules, much less achieving healthcare's venable Triple Aim.
Attendees will learn the differences between Inpatient and Observation definitions and documentation proclivities. Of course, the Two Midnight Rule and it's pitfalls will be reviewed. And the roles of UR and UM teams will not be left out.
Strategies and techniques will be revealed from decades of experience, for the easiest method to produce "high-quality" documentation - that is, documentation that not only best communicates the story of the patient but also is able to survive payer audits for appropriate, deserved reimbursement.