Inpatient Coding Guidelines

We often get questions about when to use the Inpatient Coding Guidleines--can they be used for a discharge summary alone, or a consultation that took place during an inpatient stay?  According to CMS' RADV Q&A from 2009, the answer is NO:

Q15: Are practitioner visits during a hospital admission acceptable as "PHYSICIAN" records? If yes, what coding rules will apply to these records?

A15: If a member has an inpatient hospital discharge that supports the HCC, it is usually best to select the inpatient discharge and submit the entire inpatient medical record for coding. However, if the entire inpatient medical record cannot be obtained, the organization can submit medical record documentation from an inpatient physician visit for review and it would be reviewed in accordance with the Diagnostic Coding and Reporting Guidelines for Outpatient Services. When submitting these forms of documentation please note the following:

In the outpatient setting, coders do not code diagnoses documented as "probable" "suspected," questionable," or "rule out" but rather coders code the condition to the highest degree of certainty for that encounter/visit (i.e., symptoms, signs, abnormal rest results.) This limited documentation may not support the HCC. Acceptable inpatient physician visit medical records are: inpatient history and physical examinations, progress notes, consultation reports, and discharge summaries. When submitting medical record documentation from an inpatient physician visit, the organization has two options:

1. Select a service date from the stored risk adjustment data listed in Section 3A of the coversheet (i.e., RAPS data) for a PHYSICIAN visit. The RAPS record most likely was for the physician claim for inpatient visit services. Be sure that the record you are submitting exactly matches the date of the selected service date. For example, the coversheet is

checked with a service date of 9/5/2003 through 9/5/2003 and a signed inpatient physician consultation report dated 9/5/2003 is attached for review.

2. Submit an "in lieu of" medical record by completing Section 3B of the coversheet for a PHYSICIAN visit. Be sure that the record you are submitting exactly matches the date of the selected service date. For example, Section 3B of the coversheet has a service date of 10/3/2003 through 10/3/2003 and a signed inpatient physician admission history and physical examination report dated 10/3/2003 is attached for review.

The reason for this is the nature of the Inpatient Coding Guidelines for coding uncertain diagnoses: 

H. Uncertain Diagnosis
If the diagnosis documented at the time of discharge is qualified as "probable", "suspected", "likely", "questionable", "possible", or "still to be ruled out", or other similar terms indicating uncertainty, code the condition as if it existed or was established. The bases for these guidelines are the diagnostic workup, arrangements for further workup or observation, and initial therapeutic approach that correspond most closely with the established diagnosis.
Note:

This guideline is applicable only to inpatient admissions to short-term, acute, long-term care and psychiatric hospitals

As you can see, this guideline requires that the diagnostic workup and initial therapeutic approach correspond to that uncertain diagnosis.  Simply saying "rule out MI" in a consultation note, or even a discharge summary, does not show that diagnostic workup or therapeutic approach.  You need the entire chart (or the majority of it) to support this.  So, standalone documents from an inpatient stay are always coded as if they are outpatient documents.

Have a coding question related to risk adjustment, or risk adjustment data validation (RADV)?  Send it to us at Coding@scanhealthplan.com

The Myth of Coding the "Rule Out" Diagnosis

We get a lot of questions in our "Ask A Coder" inbox, coding@scanhealthplan.com.   There is no doubt that far and away, the most frequent question we get is some variation of "can I code all "rule-out" diagnoses for an inpatient"?

I've been coding a lot of years (about 25).  As a disclaimer, I have never been employed by a hospital as a coder --BUT--in my role at SCAN and other health plans, I've coded hundreds (maybe thousands) of inpatient charts. I can honestly tell you, the number of times I've coded a rule-out diagnosis can be counted on the fingers of both of my hands.  I'm sure that hospital coders have done so many more times than I have, but I'd bet they would tell you that this is not a common occurrence. 

Why isn't it?  Let's take a look at the Official Coding Guidelines themselves.  I've highlighted particularly important passages of the guideline.

H. Uncertain Diagnosis If the diagnosis documented at the time of discharge   is qualified as "probable", "suspected", "likely", "questionable", "possible", or "still to be ruled out", or other similar terms indicating uncertainty, code the condition as if it existed or was established. The bases for these guidelines are the diagnostic workup, arrangements for further workup or observation, and initial therapeutic approach that correspond most closely with the established diagnosis.    This guideline is applicable only to inpatient admissions to short-term, acute, long-term care and psychiatric hospitals.  

First, note that the condition is still probable, uncertain--i.e., not yet ruled out, then if the documentation indicates  at the time of discharge it is still a possible condition, then it is possible it can be coded.Second, you must have the entire hospital chart--why? Because you can't know if the treatment during the hospitalization was directed at that condition without it.

As to the related question of whether or not this can be used for the physician's record...the answer is NO.   Coding Clinic and the Official Guidelines indicate that physicians use the Outpatient coding guidelines, no matter what the place of service.

I hope this clarifies when coding a "rule-out" condition is acceptable.

What coding questions do you have?  Send them to us at coding@scanhealthplan.com.  We'll do our best to answer within 72 hours. We de-identify questions of general interest and post them on HCCUniversity.com under Ask A Coder.