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Accurate Documentation of Malnutrition Diagnosis Reflects Increased Healthcare Resource Utilization
Author(s) -
Phillips Wendy
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
nutrition in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.725
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1941-2452
pISSN - 0884-5336
DOI - 10.1177/0884533615589372
Subject(s) - medicine , documentation , payment , prospective payment system , malnutrition , health care , case mix index , medical record , medical emergency , medline , resource consumption , acute care , nursing , surgery , business , political science , law , programming language , economic growth , ecology , biology , finance , pathology , computer science , economics
Nutrition support professionals often care for the sickest of hospitalized patients. An understanding of healthcare payment models can help the nutrition support professional know how documentation of nutrition status can ensure maximum resources are available to care for these patients. Medicare is the major funding source for many hospitals in the United States. Hospitals receive payments using the Acute Care Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System, which classifies patients into Medical Severity Diagnosis‐Related Groups (MS‐DRGs) to determine payment amounts. Documentation of comorbidities and complications can increase the payment hospitals receive to offset increased resource utilization. This article explains how malnutrition documentation and coding can influence the case mix index, an indicator of level of acuity of patients treated at the hospital, and the payment the hospital receives to care for the patient.