tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2004 Issue 11

Reader Questions: Same-Day Discharge? Report 99234 Series

Question: We kept a patient in the hospital overnight for observation and decided the next morning that surgery was not necessary. Should I report 9923x and discharge code 99217 even though within the hospital this stay remains outpatient?North Dakota Subscriber Answer: If a patient stays overnight (past midnight) in observation, you cannot report observation and inpatient hospital care codes 99234-99236. Instead, you must report the appropriate code for "hospital observation, initial observation care" from the range 99218-99220 on the day the patient was admitted; you would also report 99217 (Observation care discharge day management) on the day the...

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