June 25, 2021

We currently have a patient admitted and undergoes a COVID-19 screening. Patient answers “yes” to the question, have you had a positive COVID-19 test in the past 20 days? For the PTSF field it states COVID19 test result available to answer yes or no. Do you need the actual test result or the hear say of patient answering is when screening is conducted? We are also seeing documentation within the physicians notes stating the patient’s were tested within the 30 day time frame with either a negative or positive value, however these patients were tested outside with no results available/viewable in patient’s records. Without the actual test value result within the record would this be insufficient to capture a value in the COVID element?

If a physician confirms a positive or negative test result within 30 days, we would accept that documentation, and you can record a yes or no value for the COVID data element. We would not accept hearsay from a patient or family member etc. without physician confirmation.

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