Improving Quality of Physician Documentation in the IRF Setting

Targeted audits have found a high percentage of inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) did not comply with Medicare coverage and documentation requirements over the past several years. A recent report released from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded an 80% error rate was found through a stratified random sample chart audit of 220 IRF claims. The estimated financial impact of this report was $5.7 billion for care to beneficiaries that was not reasonable and necessary.

Mahesh Ramachandran, MD, and Vanessa Flaherty, PT, DPT, discuss their project titled, “Improving Quality of Physician Documentation in the IRF Setting,” which was presented at an American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association event. They share that the goal is to improve the quality of physician documentation as it relates to the inpatient rehabilitation documentation guidelines and regulations by achieving the percent of charts compliant with all IRF Medicare documentation requirements to 100%.