swing bed admission

How to you code the subsequent care for a swingbed admission?

re: swing bed admission

Regarding visits to patients in swing beds, the Medicare Carriers Manual states that “if the inpatient care is being billed by the hospital as inpatient hospital care, the hospital care codes apply. If the inpatient care is being billed by the hospital as nursing facility care, then the nursing facility codes apply.” Therefore, to code services to swing-bed patients correctly, you need to know how the hospital is billing for its care. When the hospital is billing the patient’s care as inpatient hospital care, you should submit initial hospital care codes (99221–99223) for admission to the swing bed, subsequent hospital care codes (99231–99233) for subsequent daily visits, and 99238 or 99239 for discharge. Alternatively, when the hospital is billing the patient’s care as nursing facility care, you should submit the subsequent nursing facility care codes (99307-99310) for daily visits, and the appropriate nursing facility discharge code (99315 or 99316) for discharge to home