“I must say, I am positively dumbfounded by how may providers are so vociferously resistant to a column advocating thorough, complete, and accurate documentation on non-transport calls. Actually, it is alarming.”
Nevertheless, when I wrote about good documentation being the best insurance for non-transport calls, some people went crazy.
When a patient is transported to the hospital, so is the liability associated with not transporting. The risk, the consequences, and the uncertainty that comes with not transporting all goes away when a patient is transported.
Of course, not every patient needs to go to the hospital… and that is okay. However, not needing to go is not the same as not needing to protect yourself and the patient for what could happen.
There is also the age-old disconnect between field providers and billing, and documentation, to some providers, is all about billing the patient: FALSE! Documentation, no matter what various uses it may have, is always about creating a record of care for proper continuity of care.
