Corporate Compliance

Tip: Auditing observation services

Compliance Monitor, January 19, 2005

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Conduct an audit to ensure that your organization is properly billing and coding observation services and identify departments that need more education in this area. To help focus the audit, consider the following questions:

  • Is the patient's status appropriate?

  • Would the patient's medical needs best be served in another setting?

  • How does the facility's observation admission data compare with similar facility data?

  • Is the hospital meeting all criteria for appropriate billing?

  • Is the hospital capturing all services being billed?

    The above tip is an excerpt from the book "Hospital Auditing and Monitoring: Sample Programs for Key Risk Areas." Copyright 2004 by HCPro, Inc. This book is a step-by-step, practical manual that offers sample audit programs for the most troublesome areas that a hospital must audit. The binder and CD-ROM are filled with actual audit programs used by auditors and compliance officers in the field. Click here for more information or to order your copy today.



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