Today's article contains continued discussion of lasts weeks topic related to Harmony's receipt of an influx of questions surrounding the issue of therapy professionals terminating skilled services due to a patient not making gains toward set goals for more than 2 weeks.
 
Additional points to consider when determining the plan for a patient who experiences a medical set back during a Medicare Part A stay or is at risk for loss of function upon discharge from skilled therapies include:
 
1.      Patients should be allowed more than one week to assess whether discharge from skilled service is necessary. One week period of time is too brief given the medical complexities which are common for the long term care setting. 
 
2.      When a patient is suffering from a new ailment since being admitted under Medicare Part A coverage it is recommended that a progress note entry be made discussing the new diagnosis with a clear outline of the patient's performance level since the new onset.  Assessment outcome of any new functional deficits should be documented.  In addition, an entry discussing the plan for the next week of treatment is supportive for continued skilled coverage.  
 
3.      Therapy and nursing staff should ask the question "What can we do to treat this patient vs. Why we should not treat this patient?"
 
 
For additional information on this topic contact Harmony Healthcare or visit our web site at www.harmony-healthcare.com

 

 

Become RAC-CT certified!

September 30, 2008 at Harmony University.