Initial patient assessment in home health can be tricky. If documentation does not adequately provide a reason for skilled nursing care in the home, you might not get reimbursed at all. In Documenting Medical Necessity: A Practical Guide for Home Health, author Heather Calhoun, RN, BSN, HCS-D, COS-C, provides down-to-earth, conversational documentation tips with dozens of example scenarios to help nurses understand medical necessity and document in a manner that encourages proper and complete reimbursement.

In addition to initial assessments for skilled services, continued skilled care must also be properly documented. This resource will help nurses provide skilled services based on critical thinking throughout the continuum of care.

This book has:

• A grounded, conversational style that speaks directly to nurses who are responsible for the documentation
• Dozens of hypothetical examples that provide concrete learning opportunities
• Scenarios that are available electronically to provide handouts for ongoing and on-the-go learning
• Content that serves as a great resource for orientation and annual training

Background of Medical Necessity

• Criteria Changes of 1997
• Present-Day Payment Criteria

• Focus of Care

• Delivery of Care

• Frequency of Care
• Mutually Agreed-Upon Goals
• Documentation: Paint the Picture
• Observation and Assessment
• Teaching and Training
• Direct Skilled Care
• Management and Evaluation
• Psychiatric Nursing

• Initial Assessment
• Standardized Tools
• 30-Day Reevaluation
• Therapy Indications