POA status of CLD
How do you all determine POA status of Chronic Lung Disease when it is documented later in newborn's admission? Is it always assigned POA of yes or is the status based on the clinical evidence surrounding the admission? Coders at our facility are assigning POA of yes for the majority of these cases. Thanks in advance for your input.
Comments
Since chronic lung disease in a newborn is an evolutionary process that leads to this diagnosis, I would not choose POA "Y" for this diagnosis. Certainly, the conditions leading up to the CLD would be POA. However, many infants have those same conditions at birth and do not develop CLD so this, to me, is a distinct disease process but the evolutionary nature is probably the rationale for POA "Y".