patrick.net

Oops, need the link. :)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/12/malnutrition/

You can always edit the original post and put the link in there, as well.

The article says that the hospital corporation doesn't participate in "upcoding," which is a method of coding a patient's status to gain a higher reimbursement. IMHO that's a load of crap.

Reimbursement rates are determined in large part by the medical complexity of a patient. In the last facility I worked for, a patient whose physician stated on the history & physical that he suffered from "Alzheimer's Dementia" immediately was coded as "Alzheimer's Disease" and "Dementia." Ta Dum! Two for the price of one (actually one for the price of two...). Shit like this happens all the time with so many diagneses it's crazy - and legal. Of course, the place was robbed blind by an office manager, tanked their survey and their reputation is so poor they were considering shutting down a wing before they were recently bought out. New LPN's turned out on the floor with little oversight, etc - and billing Medicare for "observing" patients who weren't receiving any skilled services at all.

Here's to hoping that the new owners will have a shred of brains and dump the administrative team before the place ends its downward spiral by hitting bottom at the expense of their patients.