New Clarification About Observation Billing May Improve Care for Behavioral Health Patients

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Anwar Osborne, Emory University; Matthew Wheatley, Emory University; Christopher W. Baugh, Harvard University; Michael Granovsky, Logix Health
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-03-01
• Publisher: WestJEM
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 by the author(s),
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2019.11.45703
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: 411
• End Page: 411
• Grant/Funding Information: None declared
• Keywords: Emergency Medicine; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Science & Technology
• Research Categories: Psychology, Behavioral; Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Health Care Management

Abstract

Emergency physicians (EP) provide ongoing care to psychiatric patients beyond the confines of a standard emergency department (ED) visit. Often, when we identify patients who need specialty psychiatric care, patients board in the ED awaiting acceptance and transfer to an outside facility. Even when it has taken multiple days to complete the transfer, it has been unclear how to properly obtain reimbursement for this care.