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Home Nutrition Support
Author(s) -
Martin Karen,
McGinnis Carol
Publication year - 2016
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 - 10.1177/0884533616639128
Subject(s) - medicine , documentation , reimbursement , parenteral nutrition , nursing , health care , permissive , politics , intensive care medicine , computer science , political science , law , programming language , virology , economics , economic growth
Ethical dilemmas challenge providers on both sides of the hospital and clinic doors. In addition to establishing the nutrition care plan and guiding the client into the home setting with safe and effective parenteral or enteral nutrition therapy, procuring home nutrition support involves meeting documentation requirements and verifying that clients meet reimbursement criteria for home therapy based on third‐party payer criteria. Providers have entered a realm for which training has been scarce and they face moral and ethical dilemmas involving serving as patient advocates, possibly stretching the truth to fit the clinical documentation to criteria vs maintaining professional integrity. Nutrition research and evidence‐based practice have outpaced modifications to policies including Medicare's national and local coverage determinations, the bulk of which have not seen revisions in 32 years. This review elucidates clinical dilemmas and urges a political call to action to advocate for changes in current, outdated requirements for reimbursement. Given the current healthcare environment and trend toward expedited hospital stays, patients may be better served (and nourished) with revised guidelines.