For any type of medical attention you get, you have to have documentation. Your emergency room discharge papers are as important as any other medical document that gets left with the hospital. Your discharge papers will include not only your billing statement but would also include your diagnosis and some instructions about what you should do after your discharge. Your emergency room discharge papers will also indicate what your health insurance policy coverage will take care of. While the emergency room does not exactly boast of luxurious hotel-like accommodations, you should not be in such a hurry to get out. You have to make sure that you are properly examined and diagnosed. You have to make sure that you get all the information that you need for any continued treatment you may need. Even when your symptoms seem acute and your diagnosis is for something that should go away with a few simple medications, you have to make a record of the medical attention and treatment that you received for future reference. You might be experiencing symptoms of a developing illness. Any information you can give to your attending physician about your emergency room visit would help him in treating you.
When you get to the emergency room, you are usually met by a hospital staff, the type of which depends on your condition. Those who arrive at the emergency room through an ambulance are usually attended to first as they are usually the more serious ones. The ambulance crew will most likely have notified the hospital of the patient’s arrival and so the team of medical professionals composed of ER physicians, nurses, paramedics, and the required specialists are already on stand by when the patient is wheeled in. Less serious cases could be attended to by a registered nurse. At this point, medical information is already logged into the hospital’s records and is readied for a physician’s evaluation. Everything that is done and charged to you from this time should be reflected in your emergency room discharge papers. You have to make sure that these documents are accurate both in as far as the medical information is concerned as well as those involving the financial charges.
For the medical facility and staff, the information documented in their records should also be accurate as these information are the same ones that they will have to present to the healthcare insurance provider for settlement of financial obligations. There are medical billing software that has functionalities for the recording of discharge information. All the emergency department personnel, usually the ER scribe, has to do is to enter the information on the system. The medical billing software will process and print the necessary forms for the patient’s discharge as well as to file the claim with the healthcare insurance provider. The discharge information usually contains the duration of the emergency room visit, the diagnosis, the charges, the home-care instructions, and the recommended follow up date. If possible, you should already make arrangements for your follow-up check up appointment with your primary care doctor or your attending specialist before you even leave the emergency room.