Vascular access and drains are among the clearest sources of a covered skilled Part A day, because the care itself is a Chapter 8 skilled procedure: administering and monitoring intravenous medications through a central or peripheral line, caring for and assessing a PICC or midline, and managing a surgical or wound drain. The skilled element is both the procedure and the observation for complications — infiltration, phlebitis, occlusion, dislodgement, and line- or drain-associated infection.
The purpose of this module is to prove, for each billed day, that the covered skilled procedure, the skilled observation, teaching, or management of the plan was reasonable, necessary, needed daily, and available only in a SNF under Pub. 100-02 Chapter 8. Line and drain care is the same as in home care; the coverage spine is re-pointed. Tracheostomy is authored in Respiratory and feeding tubes in Nutrition.
