Question: Jan 2012 Follow-up monitoring

Per the new guidelines for January 2012, under the data element for D/C instructions for Follow-up Monitoring, the examples do not show a phone number. Is this no longer required as of Jan 2012?

With the bullet re home health, would a date for next INR be required, or would just documentation of 'home heatlh following warfarin/INR' be acceptable?

Answer:

For the Jan 2012 manual version 4.0, the Data Element: Discharge Instructions Address Follow-up Monitoring has been modified to include only a PLAN to monitor the INR post discharge.

Documentation that addresses follow-up monitoring must include the following in order to select, “Yes”.

Information about plans to monitor warfarin post-discharge. For example, if “follow-up with Coumadin clinic in one week” is documented, select “Yes”.