Reason for No Post-Discharge Appointment Within 7 Days

Specifications Manual for Joint Commission National Quality Measures (v2016B1)

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Release Notes:
Data Element
Version 2016B1

Data Element Name:

Reason for No Post-Discharge Appointment Within 7 Days

Collected For:

ACHF-02,

Definition:

Documentation by a physician/APN/PA in the medical record of a reason for not scheduling a post-discharge appointment within 7 days.

Suggested Data Collection Question:

Is there documentation by a physician/APN/PA in the medical record of a reason for not scheduling a post-discharge appointment within 7 days?

Format:

Length:	1
Type:	Alphanumeric
Occurs:	1

Allowable Values:

Y (Yes) There is documentation of a reason for not scheduling a post-discharge appointment within 7 days.

N (No) There is no documentation of a reason for not scheduling a post-discharge appointment within 7 days, OR unable to determine from medical record documentation.

Notes for Abstraction:

Reasons for not scheduling a post-discharge appointment within 7 days must be documented by the physician/APN/PA.
If reasons are not mentioned in the context of 7 days after discharge, do not make inferences (e.g., do not assume that an appointment was scheduled for 14 days post-discharge because one was not available within 7 days unless documentation explicitly states so.)
- Reasons must be explicitly documented (e.g., 4 week wait at county clinic. Follow-up scheduled with Dr. X at 10:30 on X/XX/XXXX.)
When conflicting information is documented in the medical record, select Yes.
If documentation indicates that the follow-up appointment was not scheduled because the patient is cognitively impaired, (e.g., comatose, obtunded, confused, short-term memory loss) and has no caregiver available to receive the details of the scheduled appointment, select Yes.

The caregiver is defined as the patients family or other person (e.g. home health, VNA provider, prison official or law enforcement personnel) who will be responsible for care of the patient after discharge.
The following do not require physician/APN/PA documentation:
- Patient is a visitor from another country or a state or region outside of the providers scope of referral
- Patient refusal of follow-up appointment
- Patient is discharged to a court/law enforcement setting

Suggested Data Sources:

Nursing notes
Progress notes
Physician orders
Discharge summary
Discharge instruction sheet,
Home health referral form

Additional Notes:

Guidelines for Abstraction:

Inclusion	Exclusion
None	None

Reason for No Post-Discharge Appointment Within 7 Days

Specifications Manual for Joint Commission National Quality Measures (v2016B1)
Discharges 01-01-17 (1Q17) through 06-30-17 (2Q17)