La. Admin. Code tit. 48 § V-15113

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section V-15113 - Hospital Discharge Data Submittal Guide-General

A. Data Reporting Source. All facilities operated and licensed as a hospital in the state of Louisiana by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals will report discharge data to the Office of Public Health (OPH) for each patient admitted as an inpatient. A failure to report may result in action by the licensing authority.

B. Reporting Responsibilities

1. The single billing discharge data record must be submitted for the reporting period within which the discharge occurs. If a claim will not be submitted to a provider or carrier for collection (e.g., charitable service), a hospital discharge data record must still be submitted to OPH, with the normal and customary charges, as if the claim was being submitted.

2. Multiple Discharges. For a patient with multiple discharges, submit one discharge data record for each discharge.

3. Multiple Billing Claims. For a patient with multiple billing claims, the facility should submit all data related to a discharge in one of two ways:

a. consolidate the multiple billings into one discharge data record for submittal for the reporting period within which the discharge occurs; or

b. submit each interim billing claim for the reporting period in which the claim is generated.

4. A hospital may submit discharge data directly to OPH, or may designate an intermediary, such as a commercial data clearinghouse. Use of an intermediary does not relieve the hospital from its reporting responsibility. In order to facilitate communication and problem solving, each hospital should designate a contact person and a backup for the contact person. Provide the names, telephone numbers, and job titles of the persons assigned this responsibility to the Office of Public Health, Center for Health Statistics, on forms provided by OPH.

C. Confidentiality of Data. Act 622 provides for the strictest confidentiality of data and severe penalties for the violation of the Act. Any information collected from hospitals that identifies a patient or person under whom the patient is insured cannot be released. In addition, physician, facility, payor or employer identifiers cannot be released without Research Panel approval. The Office of Public Health needs patient-specific information to complete analyses. The office will take every prudent action to ensure the confidentiality and security of the data submitted. Procedures include, but are not limited to, physical security and monitoring, separation of personal identifiers from the analytical file, access to the files by authorized personnel only, passwords and encryption. Not all measures taken are documented or mentioned in this guide to further protect the data. After receiving and editing the data, OPH will separate personal patient identifiers (i.e., name, street address or P.O. Box, and SSN or other patient number). The database edits system will assign a unique nonpersonal key in order to maintain patient level data (i.e., a patient with multiple discharges can be tracked within and among hospitals.)

La. Admin. Code tit. 48, § V-15113

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health, LR 24:1937 (October 1998).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 40:1300.112(D).