UPMC Presbyterian Hospital

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Policy: Procedure for Accepting Autopsies from Outside Hospitals

Effective Date: June 2012

1.0 POLICY/PRINCIPLE

The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines for acceptance of autopsies from outside, non-UPMC hospitals.

2.0 SCOPE

This policy applies to all outside hospital autopsy consult cases.

3.0 RESPONSIBILITY
This policy is the responsibility of all pathology staff that are involved in the triage and acceptance of autopsy cases from outside hospitals. Patient requests for private autopsies should be pre-approved by the autopsy pathologist on call.

4.0 PROCESS

4.1 Initial Procedures

4.1.1 In most cases, PUH Pathology will be contacted by the outside hospital to inform and provide details of the impending autopsy. At this time, the PUH staff member must communicate important information including billing, paperwork, and materials requested.

4.1.2 PUH will bill the sending hospital for the cost of the autopsy – not the patient. This needs to be made clear up front. As of June 2012, the cost of a complete autopsy is $3,000.00. The cost of a brain-only autopsy is $500.00.

4.1.3 A checklist of materials and paperwork that should accompany the body should be faxed to the contact at the outside hospital. (Attachment 6.1)

4.1.5 A PUH autopsy authorization form should also be faxed or an authorization form from an outside hospital can be accepted.

4.1.6 If a family is requesting a private autopsy, the same checklist of required materials will apply. In this scenario, the patient’s family will be billed for the cost of the autopsy. A billing name and address should be obtained prior to acceptance of the body.

4.2 Receipt of Materials

4.2.1 Upon receipt of the materials at PUH, the patient will need registered into the Medipac system. This can be accomplished by faxing the completed demographic sheet (Attachment 6.2) to registration using the pre-filled fax sheet (Attachment 6.3).

4.2.2 The autopsy should then be accessioned following usual protocols.

4.2.3 When the autopsy is received and accessioned, notify the department manager or supervisor so that they can arrange for appropriate billing.

5.0 REFERENCES

N/A

6.0 ATTACHMENTS

6.1 PUH Autopsy Consult Checklist

6.2 Registration Demographic Sheet

6.3 Registration Fax Cover Sheet


UPMC Presbyterian Outside Autopsy Consult Checklist

1. Body- sending hospital must arrange for transportation to Presbyterian Hospital

2. Copy of patient’s medical record

3. Completed death certificate

4. Signed and completed authorization form that includes funeral home information.

5. Name, address and fax number of ordering physician.

6. Hospital billing address

7. Name and phone number of hospital contact

UPMC Presbyterian Outside Autopsy

Registration Demographic Sheet

Note: This sheet is only to be faxed to Registration when the autopsy patient is from a non-UPMC facility

All information must be completed:

Patient Name: ______________________________________________________________________

Date of Birth: _______________________________________________________________________

Social Security Number: ______________________________________________________________

Referring physician name: ____________________________________________________________