Identifying and documenting malnutrition in inpatient rehabilitation facilities / Wendy Phillips

Recently there has been strong focus on appropriate nutrition screening, assessment, intervention, and documentation in multiple care settings and across the transition of care. Several articles have guided clinicians to understand the impact of malnutrition diagnosis, intervention, and coding on hospital payment, case mix index, risk of mortality, and severity of illness. Limited studies explain the impact (or lack thereof) of malnutrition diagnosis and coding in inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs); however, with a reported prevalence of malnutrition in patients receiving rehabilitative services between 38% and 51%, more attention needs to be given to this population.

Nutrition.