Top Management Story

Writen by Michael Russell

In the last article on medical billing we started our review of the GA0 record, which is the ambulance certification, or CMN. We covered the CMN through field number 12. In this installment we'll be covering fields 13 through the end of the CMN.

GA0 field 13, position 50, is the physical restraints indicator. In some cases, a patient is manic or out of control and needs to be brought to the hospital in restraints. This can be common in cases where a patient is having a seizure. This is done to keep the patient from hurting himself. If restraints are needed, this field is filled in with a Y.

GA0 field 14, position 51, is the Visible Hemorrhaging indicator. If it is clearly visible that the patient is doing so, then this field is filled in with a Y.

GA0 field 15, position 52, is the transport reason code. This is a special code that tells the payer why the patient had to be transported to the hospital. Many times a claim is denied because of this reason code.

GA0 field 16, position 53, is the Medically Necessary indicator. This is filled in with a Y if the provider felt that it was medically necessary for the patient to be transported via ambulance.

GA0 field 17, positions 54 - 57, is the number of miles transported. This needs to be filled in because just like with a taxi cab, patients are billed for this ride based on how many miles they had to be transported to the hospital.

GA0 field 18, positions 58 - 97, is the origin information. This is the address of the patient and must be filled in.

GA0 field 19, positions 98 - 137, is the destination information. This is the address of the hospital and must also be filled in.

GA0 field 20, positions 138 - 217, is the round trip purpose. If the patient was transported to and from the hospital, this information must be filled in. It is extra narrative information and must be stated in plain English.

GA0 field 21, positions 218 - 297, is the stretcher purpose. This is also extra narrative and if the patient needed to be taken on a stretcher, this must also be stated in plain English as to the reason.

GA0 field 22, position 298, is the patient discharged indicator. If the patient was brought to the hospital and then discharged, this must be filled with a Y.

GA0 field 23, position 299, is the patient admitted indicator. If the patient was admitted to the hospital, which is true in almost all cases of an ambulance ride, then this field is filled with a Y.

GA0 field 24, position 300, is the services available indicator. This means that when the patient was brought to the hospital, the services or treatment that the patient needed was available at that hospital. If so, this field is filled in with a Y.

GA0 field 25, positions 301 - 320, is filler national and must be filled with spaces.

In our next installment of medical billing, we'll continue our review of CMNs.