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AppriseMD Blog
New UHC Hospital Services Observation and Inpatient Policy Takes Effect Dec. 1, 2022
UnitedHealthcare’s Observation Utilization Review Guide is sunsetting and will be replaced by the new Hospital Services: Observation and Inpatient Policy1. The change takes effect Dec. 1, 2022, for commercial, community and exchange plans. The new policy explicitly mentions InterQual, stating “InterQual criteria are intended to be used in connection with the independent professional medical judgment […]
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Case Studies
An AppriseMD physician advisor spoke with the insurance company medical director regarding a denial. The patient’s medical history was discussed during the call, including the patient’s coronary artery bypass graft surgery in 2021, hypertension, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and obstructive sleep apnea. The patient did not have any significant postoperative complications and was discharged after two midnights. After a lengthy conversation, AppriseMD was able to overturn the denial due to the significant medical history which made this patient a higher risk for the procedure.
The Peer-to-Peer discussion resulted in the approval of an inpatient level of care, overturning the denial. However, the insurance company did raise quality concerns with this case. The patient required a higher level of care and multiple days were spent waiting on transfer to a higher level of care at the university hospital. The insurance company medical director felt it was important to seek alternate centers if no beds were available initially and saw the need for a quality review.