by laura padgett

You will soon need to ensure physicians and non-physician practitioners (NPP) sign your paper lab requisitions if you want to get paid; however what does that entail exactly?

CMS provides specific guidance on what constitutes an acceptable ‘signature’ for documents subject to review for Medicare payment or by an audit contractor. See to it that your documents measure up by complying with one of the following choices:

See to it that it is legible The simplest signature (but toughest to ensure) is a legible full-name signature or a legible signature using first initial and last name. Unluckily, you will not find many physicians or NPP who have a legible signature and you certainly won’t want to stake your payment on it. That is when you will go to the second option.
Accept printed name with scribble If you cannot count on ordering physicians and NPP to legibly sign requisitions, you certainly have an alternative. Other personnel such as a circulating nurse can print the full name of the ordering physician/NPP on the requisition. After that the physician/NPP can initial next to or above the full printed name. In this situation, the initials don’t have to be legible to count as a legitimate signature. On the other hand, if you submit a signature log or attestation statement that identifies the signer of an illegible signature, you can meet the signature requirement that way. Do it: There’s no denying that getting referring physicians and NPP to comply with Medicare’s just-in policy for acceptable paper requisition signatures will be tough; however, compliance is important if pathologists and laboratories are to continue to be paid for their work. For more on this, stay tuned to a medical coding guide like Supercoder.