Jan. 19, 2026
Acute Hypoxic Respiratory Failure: Decoding What It Is (and Isn’t) in the Face of Denials.
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Acute hypoxic respiratory failure is diagnosed by one of these three criteria:
- PaO2 less than 60 mm Hg
- SpO2 less than 90%
- PaO2/FiO2 ratio < 300
That's it.
Payers like to add all sorts of clinical criteria alongside this. This is totally wrong, and we should not let them get away with this when they dispute the presence of acute hypoxic respiratory failure during post-discharge DRG denials.
During this episode, Dr. Hassaballa goes into the criteria of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, so we can be better equipped to deal with the ever-increasing payer denials of this major co-morbid condition.
