Knowledge Base Article

Question:
If a patient is discharged from an acute care hospital and sent back to the nursing home, placed in a non-skilled bed, and the patient is a resident of the Medicare-certified nursing home, what would the discharge disposition be? Is there ever a time when the disposition would be “01-home”?

Answer:
Discharge disposition code 03 is used for Medicare Certified SNFs in anticipation of skilled care, so the discharge disposition would not be 03.  Under the current guidelines the disposition would be 04.  “There was a time when one of the FAQs (that has since been deleted -- FAQ #41 effective 10/1/09) indicated that if a NF was the permanent residence that 01 could be appropriate.   Now, no discharge to any facility is 01.”

Resource:  Email communication between MMP, Inc. and the AMA/NUBC.