Discharge Planning: How is a Post-Acute Transfer Defined?

A Basic Primer for Your Organization

Hospitals are responsible for coding a Medicare beneficiary discharge bill based on the discharge plan for the patient.

Patient discharge status codes are part of the Official UB-04 Data Specifications Manual and are used nationwide by institutional, private, and public providers, and payers of health care claims. The data elements and codes are developed and maintained by the National Uniform Billing Committee.

Hospital Acronyms to Become Familiar With

A “post-acute care transfer” occurs when a Medicare beneficiary in an IPPS hospital stay is grouped to one of the MS-DRGs listed in the current IPPS final rule for hospitals. These MS-DRG groups are connected back to the Hospital IPPS final rules each year.