Does a patient need to show progress with all goals for reimbursement?
Answer
No. However, if the person did not make progress in therapy, it is important to explain why in your documentation. It is important to make progress with our clients, but it is not realistic to think we are going to reach all of their goals the way we thought at the beginning of an evaluation and when we first saw the patient. Reimbursement can still occur as long as you are documenting why the patient was not able to make the progress. For example, did something else happen in the episode of care that has impacted them? Are they having some other health related issues? It is important that you show why, but not necessary that all goals are met in order to get reimbursed for your services.
Megan Malone is a speech-language pathologist working as a Clinical Instructor at Kent State University and in home health care for Gentiva Health Services. She previously worked for 9 years as a senior research associate and lead trainer at Myers Research Institute, in Cleveland, OH where she oversaw federally/privately funded grants focused on implementing interventions with older adults with dementia.
Megan L. Malone, M.A., CCC-SLP
Megan Malone is a speech-language pathologist working as a Clinical Instructor at Kent State University and in home health care for Gentiva Health Services. She previously worked for 9 years as a senior research associate and lead trainer at Myers Research Institute, in Cleveland, OH where she oversaw federally/privately funded grants focused on implementing interventions with older adults with dementia. She has spoken numerous times at the annual conventions of the American Speech and Hearing Association, Gerontological Society of America, American Society on Aging, and the Alzheimer’s Association, along with several state speech and hearing conventions. She has published articles in the Journal of Communication Disorders, Alzheimer’s Care Quarterly, The Gerontologist, and Dementia.
Related Courses
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