Duties as a Home Health Nurse and Oxygen Therapy

[iridium54]

Hello!

I am a BSN student and am working on a case study on emphysema. The case studies are part of my clinical course. I have been given the following scenario:

The physician tells C.E. that his office will have a home health equipment company call him to make arrangements to

deliver the equipment and educate him in its use. As an RN working for the company, you are assigned to make the initial

home visit. Look up the Medicare code (number) and information on reimbursement for home treatment of severe

emphysema

Note: Diagnosis of emphysema is usually made from the CXR, pulmonary function tests, and ABGs on room air. Insurance

companies and Medicare usually pay for oxygen only if room air PaO2

HCFA/Medicare on the Internet. Look under U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Financing

Administration, for the most recent directives. How would you prepare for the first visit?

I cannot find the reimbursement code anywhere! Does anyone know where I could find it? Also, do any home health nurses have their thoughts about important nursing responsibilities for this first visit?

My guess would be to go over how to use the oxygen (like how to take care of the tank, the nasal cannula, settings), how it will be paid for through insurance, and maybe a safety point about keeping it away from open fire or anything flammable? I don't know much about home oxygen therapy at all. I appreciate anyone's help. :-)

[KateRN1]

Diagnosis code = icd 9 code. Easy enough to find. Do a google search.

HCFA no longer exists and has been replaced by CMS. (I think that was in 2001 or so, not completely sure of the date.) Your instructor needs to update his/her teaching modules. http://www.cms.gov

Criteria for home oxygen is easy to find. Again, google is your friend.

Is oxygen a drug? (You should know the answer to this.) What should you teach about any drug?

[iridium54]

Diagnosis code = icd 9 code. Easy enough to find. Do a google search.

HCFA no longer exists and has been replaced by CMS. (I think that was in 2001 or so, not completely sure of the date.) Your instructor needs to update his/her teaching modules. http://www.cms.gov

Criteria for home oxygen is easy to find. Again, google is your friend.

Is oxygen a drug? (You should know the answer to this.) What should you teach about any drug?

Thanks for the clarity on the code.

Well thinking about what I learned in the beginning of pharmacology, oxygen in this case is a drug. Thanks for the tips, much appreciated.

[HealthyNurse]

A really nice resource for looking up ICD-9 codes is http://icd9cm.chrisendres.com/. Good luck!