Using MEAT Criteria in Medical Documentation: 5 Best Practices

To ensure documentation and diagnosis coding compliance, many facilities rely on a validation tool known as MEAT criteria. The MEAT acronym (medically speaking) stands for monitor, evaluate, assess (or address), and treat.

These four elements can help make certain that chronic conditions are properly documented during clinical care. This helps validate and specify the assigned diagnosis, streamline reimbursements, and protect facilities during audits.

What Does Each Element of the MEAT Validation Tool Mean?

Hearing the word is one thing, understanding all its implications is another. Let’s take a closer look at how each letter of the acronym helps establish the documentation process.

Why Is MEAT-Validated Documentation Important?

Official ICD-10-CM coding guidelines dictate that for any conditions present during an encounter to be coded as diagnoses, they must be supported by clinical care data and confirmed with diagnostic and therapeutic evidence. The resulting diagnosis code will then be used alongside the corresponding hierarchical condition code (HCC) to assign a risk adjustment factor which governs estimated care costs. MEAT helps by breaking down these coding requirements into understandable documentation steps, ensuring the guidelines for diagnosis (and reimbursement) are fully met.

By identifying the documentation steps required by insurance providers like the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), MEAT criteria adherence can save healthcare organizations from costly claw-back provisions during audits. It may also help expedite service repayments by reducing the risk that CMS and other insurance companies reject diagnoses and the related charges due to inadequate clinical support.

What Are Some MEAT Documentation Examples?

To better understand the intentions of MEAT as a validation tool, let’s look at a clinical example involving a patient with chronic hypertension.

To monitor, the clinician may:

• Request updated vital sign values.
• Interview the patient about disease progress and associated symptoms, like headaches.
• Order routine maintenance labs such as a BUN and eGFR to monitor renal status.

To evaluate, the clinician may:

• Specify current vital sign values, including the latest blood pressure (BP).
• Note the patient’s unresponsiveness to current BP medication.
• Include the results of the ordered labs to reflect elevated kidney markers.

To assess/address, the clinician may:

• Review BP diary from patient’s tracking efforts at home.
• Address disease progression by interviewing the patient about adherence to dietary restrictions and exercise recommendations.
• Follow up concerning lab work by ordering a 24-hour urine test.

To treat, the clinician may:

• Switch BP medication to a less nephrotoxic alternative.
• Update chronic disease management plan to further reduce allowable sodium in dietary restrictions.
• Refer the patient to nephrology.

Using MEAT Criteria: 5 Best Practices

Now that you know what MEAT is and why it’s important, you may be ready to ensure its criteria are being implemented in the charting for chronic conditions at your facility. Here are some recommendations to improve its consistency of use in everyday workflow.

1. Incorporate the MEAT Tool as a Key Requirement

Clarifying that MEAT is a standard compliance issue during onboarding can help ensure its adoption is immediate and underscore its significance.

Suggestions:

• Add the adoption of MEAT-compliant documentation into job expectations and standards.
• Incorporate MEAT standards into onboarding training and charting debriefs.

2. Standardize Documentation Templates to Include and Prompt MEAT Adherence

Switching to standardized templates for charting notes can help ensure the adherence to MEAT guidelines while also improving efficiency.

Suggestions:

• Modify existing templates or develop new ones to incorporate the criteria into all chronic condition visit notes.
• Integrate reminders and stopgaps that alert users to review for MEAT inclusion.

3. Provide Ongoing Training on the Use of the Criteria in Charting

As regulations and coding requirements shift, so too will the provisions of charting tools that help maintain compliance. Integrating ongoing education opportunities can reinforce existing best practices and help with the adoption of amendments.

Suggestions:

• Schedule routine educational opportunities to highlight compliance updates.
• Offer individual check-ins to establish understanding and to help target system breakdowns when they occur and guide future education measures.

4. Encourage Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Keep MEAT Documentation Consistent and Complete

Reinforcing the value of feedback and encouraging teamwork can optimize the integration of the MEAT tool and help with the efficiency of its application.

Suggestions:

• Utilize case conferences among providers, nurses, and coding specialists to discuss chronic condition management and reinforce MEAT compliance.
• Develop feedback systems so that team members can assist each other with continuous improvement efforts.

5. Perform Routine Charting Audits to Confirm Diagnoses Follow MEAT Guidelines

By ensuring compliance via consistent internal reviews, facilities can protect themselves from future external audits, decreasing risks of financial impact and increasing the likelihood of identifying documentation issues before they snowball.

• Consider developing or using audit systems that flag incomplete MEAT inclusion.
• Utilize interdisciplinary teams to support and review clinical documentation improvement measures.

Is Medical Documentation Compliance a Priority for Your Facility?

Validation tools like the MEAT criteria can help save your facility from reimbursement delays and noncompliance penalties. If you’re interested in more cost-saving strategies, IntelyCare offers continuously updated system overviews, resources, and facility guides to help you stay current on healthcare regulations and best practice standards.