title: Inpatient or observation: Will the difference ever be clear?
abstract: It's been more than two years since the Two-Midnight rule went into effect, but the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' attempt to clear up confusion about patient status just has people more uncertain. Case managers should monitor patients at every access point in the hospital and work with the admitting physicians to ensure that patients are in the proper status. Observation patients should be easily identified, preferably in a dedicated observation unit, so clinicians know to give them priority and either admit or discharge them. Now that CMS has agreed that some short stays may qualify as inpatient admissions based on physician judgment, case managers should make sure the documentation supports the admission.
mesh_terms: D019090:Case Management; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D007297:Inpatients; D014481:United States; D057832:Watchful Waiting