Which statement about discharge status on UB-04 is true?

• A. It indicates the patient’s disposition at discharge (e.g., home, SNF, another hospital).
• B. It indicates the patient's primary diagnosis.
• C. It lists the admission date.
• D. It tracks the hospital's occupancy rate.

Answer: (B)

Discharge status shows where the patient will go after leaving the hospital. It’s a disposition code used to indicate post-discharge settings like home, a skilled nursing facility, another hospital, or similar destinations, and it’s important for billing and patient flow tracking. The primary diagnosis, by contrast, is a diagnosis code that documents the main reason for the admission, not where the patient goes afterward. The admission date is captured in a different part of the form under admission information, not discharge status. Occupancy rate is a broader hospital metric and isn’t determined by a single discharge-status field. So, the true statement is that discharge status indicates the patient’s disposition at discharge.