• The intent of this data element is to determine the date that the patient was actually admitted to inpatient care. Because this data element is critical in determining the population for all measures, the abstractor should NOT assume that the claim information for the admission date is correct. If the abstractor determines through chart review that the date is incorrect, for purposes of abstraction, she/he should correct and override the downloaded value.
• A patient of a hospital is considered an inpatient upon issuance of written doctor’s orders to that effect. (Refer to the Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 3, Section 40.2.2.)
• For patients who are admitted to Observation status and subsequently admitted to acute inpatient care, abstract the date that the determination was made to admit to acute inpatient care and the order was written. Do not abstract the date that the patient was admitted to Observation.
• For patients that are admitted for surgery and/or a procedure, if the admission order states the date the orders were written and they are effective for the surgery/procedure date, then the date of the surgery/procedure would be the admission date. If the medical record reflects that the admission order was written prior to the actual date the patient was admitted and there is no reference to the date of the surgery/procedure, then the date the order was written would be the admission date.
• For HBIPS only, admission dates prior to 2001 are acceptable.

PRIORITY ORDER FOR THESE SOURCES

• Physician orders
• Face sheet
• UB-04, Field Location: 12