Audit Proofing Your Skilled Therapy Documentation

Practicing occupational therapy in a skilled nursing facility can present many challenges for even the most skilled therapists. The current medical model sees patients receiving only a portion of their rehabilitation in an inpatient setting before being discharged to an SNF (skilled nursing rehabilitation) for the remainder of their recovery.

This changing environment means that occupational therapists need to be experienced in a variety of conditions and situations while maintaining the drive to provide their patients the ability to lead healthy and active lifestyles.

It also means that occupational therapy professionals need to be on their toes when documenting every step of their patients' recovery.

Unfortunately, even the best of skilled therapy can be denied reimbursement without correct coding and the requisite skilled documentation. The complexity of the rules has led to many myths and urban legends. Therefore careful planning is needed to assure success in reimbursement and to prevent denials or fines secondary to an actual audit.

Inadequate documentation can also make a skilled service appear unskilled. It is easy to avoid denials by showing why and how your services are “skilled.” And simply knowing how to differentiate between covered and non-covered therapy services found in the skilled nursing setting per Medicare Guidelines boosts the likelihood that you won't be faced with denials and a slew of extra work.

Lisa Milliken, MA, CCC-SLP, provides an effective guide to ensuring that your documentation stands up to scrutiny should you face the possibility of an audit. Her 4-hour seminar in Audit Proofing Your Skilled Therapy Documentation, presents therapy professionals with actual rules and regulations by which therapy documentation is being judged in national, regional and state audits. Therapists completing her course will earn a new level of confidence and capability when faced with the challenges of proper skilled therapy documentation.

The course can be purchased by clicking this link. Are you looking for even more NBCOT PDUs? Check out our cost-effective and convenient Occupational Therapy Flex Packages. As an AOTA approved provider, HomeCEUConnection.com course hours have a conversion rate of 1 contact hour: 1.25 PDU. That means you only need to complete 29 contact hours with us and it will count as all 36 of your PDUs for your NBCOT certification!