Certified Revenue Cycle Representative (CRCR) Practice Exam

What causes an incorrect nightly room charge for a patient?

1. Not charting the discharge for the next day

2. The absence of physician orders during shift change

3. Delays in entering pharmacy orders

4. Failure to reflect a transfer from ICU in the registration system

The correct answer is: Failure to reflect a transfer from ICU in the registration system

An incorrect nightly room charge for a patient often results from a failure to accurately reflect changes in a patient's status within the healthcare system. In this case, if a patient transfers from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to a different level of care, such as a regular patient room, and that transfer is not updated in the registration system, it can lead to incorrect billing. The room charge associated with an ICU stay is typically higher than that of a standard room. Thus, if the system continues to bill at the ICU rate after the patient has been moved, the charges will be inaccurate, potentially leading to overbilling or billing for services that are not being rendered. The other options, while they may lead to various issues in patient care or billing processes, do not directly create an incorrect nightly room charge as the transfer from ICU to another unit does. Not charting discharges or dealing with delays in pharmacy orders may affect overall care coordination but are less likely to impact the specific room charges directly. Similarly, the absence of physician orders may hinder patient management but does not necessarily cause incorrect room billing without a transfer being properly documented.