Outpatient is one of the most important departments of any health care facility. We all are familiar with the fact that outpatient department has the most patient load in any hospital and it is the outpatient department from which rest of the patient care and patient load is managed and filtered to other departments. Moreover, every basic procedure begins here and a lot of documentation is also required to carry on smooth procedures everywhere.
What is an outpatient encounter form?
An outpatient encounter form might be one of the most frequently used forms in the outpatient department. This is a form which is basically used for the billing purpose. It is also termed as “super bill” sometimes because it includes all the details of the procedures that were performed on a patient during his outpatient visit.
The outpatient encounter form is always filled in the most efficient of the ways to make sure that the patient is paying the accurate bill and no added or unnecessary billing is included to increase the burden on his shoulders.
Outpatient encounter form includes all the daycare procedure including day care surgeries which are sometimes called as the outpatient surgeries. Similarly, all the examination procedures or surgical procedures held in the outpatient on gynecological patients are also included in this form. All the billing is, therefore, part of the outpatient encounter form.
What are the components of an outpatient encounter form?
- An outpatient encounter form consists of three or four components which need to be filled so that main and necessary information is recorded there and then.
- The first component of the outpatient encounter form is the basic information of the patient like name, age, sex and date of birth. Patient’s address and contact number is also important for prompt communication and follow up on both sides.
- Patient’s Identity number is always assigned in a well-organized hospital and this number is always used in almost all the medical forms when the patient enters the hospital.
- In the initial section of the encounter form, emergency contact numbers are also noted down with their names and complete addresses.
- Some hospitals also enter the details of the health insurance of the patient in the initial section as well.
- The second section consists of the record of the patient’s visits to the hospital. Total numbers of visits are mentioned in the initial section of the form. Some forms also require the details of the visit depending upon the service line of the patient.
- Another section of the outpatient encounter form of the patient consists of the coding of the procedures and the diagnosis. The procedures to be performed on the patient are coded and whatever procedure is performed is mentioned by mentioning the code of the patient.
- Any material used in the procedure is also mentioned with its code which enables maximum information with minimum written work.
- Another portion of the patient encounter form also includes the general physical parameters of the patient which are noted at the time of the first visit.
