tci Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement - 2013 Issue 4

Inpatient Coding: You Can Recoup Pay for Death Pronouncements

Key: Enter correct date and place of service. There’s no need to write off your physician’s services when he pronounces a patient dead. Medicare may not have a code for actually declaring a patient’s death, but the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offers guidance on what you should put on your claim. Although many doctors bristle at using discharge codes 99238 and 99239 for this service, Medicare says it’s the right thing to do. "The physician who personally performs a patient pronouncement of death shall bill for the face-to-face Hospital Discharge Day Management...

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