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January 15, 2018
Six New Year’s Resolutions for Coding and CDI Departments
By Michelle M. Wieczorek RN RHIT CPHQ
From evolving your CDI department to a population-centric approach to understanding the impact of electronic medical record technology on CDI program outcomes are among six resolutions offered by the author.Happy New Year! It’s now officially 2018, and even though we are already a full quarter into the federal fiscal year,…
January 15, 2018
Why Most CDI Programs Fail to Engage Physicians
By Glenn Krauss, RHIA, BBA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, CCDS, C-CDI, PCS, FCS, C-CDAM
CDI programs are viewed by most physicians as hospital-led initiatives geared towards increasing reimbursement for the hospital.The majority of clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs fail to effectively engage physicians as willing participants in the push to accurately capture patient care provided through clear, concise, and contextually consistent reporting. Clinical documentation…
January 15, 2018
CDI and Medical Necessity: Closing the Gap Could Prevent Denials
By Rhonda Buckholtz, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CRC, CDEO, CHPSE, COPC, CPEDC, CGSC
Medical policies are based off of evidence-based medicine. Without proper documentation, however, most providers struggle to get services or procedures covered for patients.Exactly what is medical necessity? To many, it is the belief that a service or procedure is warranted or justified for a patient. Others view it as a…
A paramedic reflects on his career and the challenges he and his EMS team face in the line of duty.His bunker coat, helmet, and rescue gloves will be hanging in his locker on Christmas Eve, alongside his ballistic vest and shatter-resistant goggles. David Nesbit II, AAS, NRP won’t be rolling…
Key criteria govern the search to determine whether a patient is malnourished.EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a summary of a transcript of Pamela Charney speaking during a recent edition of Talk-Ten-Tuesdays.Right now folks are looking at the American Society for Parental and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) consensus criteria for diagnosing malnutrition.…
CDI, used to clearly communicate the clinical status of a patient, comes with the increased scrutiny of third-party payers and federal oversight agencies. EDITOR’S NOTE: Stefani Daniels recently appeared on Talk-Ten-Tuesdays. The following are highlights from her segment on the broadcast.Hospitals are knee-deep in some radical changes in how and where…
New quality measures have been added to the IRF Compare website in order to assist consumers, although some measures are not included.The Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRFs) Prospective Payment System for federal fiscal year 2018 final rule published Aug. 3, 2017 included the addition of additional quality measures to the IRF…
Flash back to healthcare in the 1990s. The hot topic then was clinical documentation improvement; the mantra was optimizing reimbursement.
Media
December 12, 2017
CDI: Is Your Toolkit Well Stocked?
By Glenn Krauss, RHIA, BBA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, CCDS, C-CDI, PCS, FCS, C-CDAM
Hospital services must positively contribute to the revenue cycle and clinical documentation integrity initiatives. A recent outlook report released by Moody’s Investors Services spells continued ongoing financial challenges for non-profit hospitals next year. (Moody's Survey) The firm downgrade the sector from its current stable status to negative for 2018, attributable…
December 12, 2017
2018 Three Major Concerns Await Coders
By Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCDS, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
Leaving 2017 and moving into 2018, three major issues await coders—issues that could be opportunities.As we now come to the end of another year and look towards the next, what are the big issues for coding professionals? I often think about the new Official Coding & Reporting Guidelines and the…
December 12, 2017
HIM’s Role in Revving up Revenue Integrity
By Rose T. Dunn, MBA, RHIA, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA, CHPS, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
Health information management professionals are fulfilling roles in numerous healthcare settings. “Revenue integrity” is a relatively new buzz-phrase, but it certainly is a concept that should have been in practice since pay-for-service healthcare began. In essence, if it had been religiously practiced, the “fraud” would not be in the healthcare…
Dieticians’ findings must find their way into the medical record to achieve proper care and coding. Diagnosing malnutrition is not diving for dollars.Malnutrition – and I am specifically talking about undernutrition today – is a common but frequently unrecognized problem that leads to difficulty healing from trauma or surgery, or…
December 5, 2017
Puerto Rico’s Healthcare Industry Still Slowly Recovering from Maria’s Wrath
By Mark Spivey
Healthcare billing professional operating in storm-torn territory details unique challenges left behind by Hurricane Maria.It was an unusual sight for any hospital in any part of the world, let alone a major hospital in a U.S. territory: a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) surgeon preparing to go to work while…
December 5, 2017
Alzheimer’s, Up Close and Personal
By Laurie Johnson, MS, RHIA, CPC-H, FAHIMA, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
An insider’s look at coding Alzheimer’s and its associated symptoms.EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an edited transcript of Laurie Johnson’s recent appearance on Talk Ten Tuesdays.The late President Ronald Reagan designated November as National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month in 1983 in order to help fight the dreaded condition. As Baby…
Malnutrition is officially on the radar screen of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG is adamant about targeting treatment of the condition for review of suspected fraud, saying in a statement that it will “assess the accuracy of Medicare payments…
Media
December 5, 2017
Cardiovascular and Vascular Interventional Radiology Specialization Improves Coding Performance
By Kristi Pollard, RHIT, CCS, CPC, CIRCC, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
A deep dive into the “toughest type of coding.While you may have dedicated CPT® coders for interventional cardiology (IC) and vascular interventional radiology (VIR) for outpatient coding, you may not have considered the importance of doing the same for inpatient ICD-10-PCS coding. These intricate procedures are extremely difficult to understand…
December 5, 2017
E&M Coding and Documentation: CDI and Physician Buy-in
By Margaret A. Skurka, MS, RHIA, CCS, FAHIMA
Eight key guidelines for ensuring proper coding. EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a summary of a presentation by Margaret Skurka during the 2017 American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) national convention in Los Angeles. Evaluation and management (E&M) documentation principles have been around a long time – since 1995, in…
December 4, 2017
Abandonment Issues: The Service Shouldn't End Just Because the Audit Did
By Alixis SmithMedia
November 28, 2017
“Oh God, I Have Lost Myself:” Palliative Care and Alzheimer’s Dementia
By Michael A. Salvatore, MD, FACP
Alzheimer’s remains an incurable, fatal disease suffered by more than 5.5 million people. EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article appeared in the RACmonitor on Nov. 16, 2017. The story is reproduced here in recognition that November is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month. On Nov. 2, 1901 Karl Deter brought his 51-year…
November 28, 2017
ICD-10 Coding: Three Ways to Improve Quality: Consistency, Collaboration, and Education
By Julie Boomershine, RHIA, CCS, CTR, CHDA, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10 Trainer; and Jessica Coleman, CCS
Quality coding plays a critical role in protecting revenue and reducing operational costs.Results of the 2nd Annual National Coding Productivity and Accuracy Contest were released in September 2017. Although accuracy rates were higher than reported following the same contest in 2016, quality remains significantly low compared to the 95 percent…
November 28, 2017
MACRA, MIPS, and APMs: Why is CDI an Essential Ingredient to the Alphabet Soup?
By Laura Legg, RHIT, CCS, CDIP
Quality of clinical documentation and ICD-10 diagnosis code accuracy and specificity are essential under MACRA.My presentation at the 2017 American Health Information Management (AHIMA) convention stressed the need for understanding a basic overview of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and its performance categories. These performance categories and…
Predicting the future of MACRA is difficult as goals continue to change, nonetheless, MACRA appears to be here to stay.According to a recent study reported on in The Lancet, healthcare spending per capita is higher in the United States than in any other country in the world, and is unsustainable…
November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month, and the Alzheimer's Association reports that 5.5 million people are currently living with the degenerative and fatal disease.
Media
November 20, 2017
News Alert: AMA Releases New CPT® Codes and Descriptors for 2018
By Glenn Krauss, RHIA, BBA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, CCDS, C-CDI, PCS, FCS, C-CDAM
The American Medical Association (AMA) released new current procedural terminology (CPT®) codes during its 2018 CPT and RBRVS symposium held in Chicago Nov. 15-17.Significant changes to the 2018 CPT® codes and descriptors were announced late last week by the American Medical Association (AMA), including 170 new CPT codes, 60 revised…
November 14, 2017
Defective and Counterfeit Electronic Health Records: Opinions, Observations, and Hopes from 15 Years (and Counting)
By Reed D. Gelzer, MD, MPH
In order to make healthcare effective, safe and affordable, clinical organizations must ensure complete and accurate clinical records.In preparation for my remarks on the Talk Ten Tuesdays broadcast of Oct. 31, 2017, I reviewed my own time served on this topic. I also reflected on the many people I’ve met…
The importance of learning and researching the details of MACRA cannot be overstated, especially since the topic is unknown to many healthcare entities.EDITOR’S NOTE: At the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) 2017 Convention and Exhibit, significant attention was given to the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). The…
November 14, 2017
How Value-Based Care is Changing the Healthcare Landscape
By Adele L. Towers, MD, MPH, FACP
Healthcare is moving from Medicare Fee for Service (FFS) to quality payment models.There has been a shift in our healthcare system, whereby providers are being rewarded for better care, not more care. This transition from fee-for-service to value-based care is not only changing how patients are cared for, but also…
A CDIS recently posed a question that baffled – to say the least. In my consulting practice, I often review provider documentation to identify documentation gaps and to direct my educational efforts. I also get a significant amount of information about the state of the facility’s clinical documentation integrity process.…
He is a nationally recognized scientist. He presented at TEDx in Nashville. He is the chief scientific officer at MyGenetx, a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments- (CLIA)-certified lab focused on molecular and advanced diagnostic testing operating that is on the leading edge of precision-guided medicine.
Media
Much has been written and documented about the physician query process. The subject is crucially important. And the need to maintain the integrity of a compliant query in any clinical documentation integrity (CDI) program cannot be overstated.
Media
November 7, 2017
CDI: Moving from Reimbursement-Based Goals to Documenting Patient Care
By Glenn Krauss, RHIA, BBA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, CCDS, C-CDI, PCS, FCS, C-CDAM
How CDI transforms documentation from a reimbursement perspective to a tool for patient care and support of quality-based, cost-effective, efficient healthcare.Clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs have become deeply ingrained in most hospitals as part of a purposely directed strategy to improve financial operations.According to a survey conducted by Black Book…
November 7, 2017
Coding Diabetes: Time to Look at the Coding Guidelines Again
By Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCDS, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, prompting coders to review the coding guidelines for this disease suffered by more than 10.9 million U.S. residents.During November, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is raising awareness about diabetes, diabetic eye disease, the importance of early disease detection, and related preventive…
November 7, 2017
Lean Six Sigma Impact on Healthcare
By Gustavo P. Camarano, MD, PhD, CPC, CDIP, CHCQM
Understanding how the principles of Lean Six Sigma can improve healthcare.Healthcare organizations have seen improvement programs come and go over the last few decades (TQM, or total quality management, CQI, or continuous quality improvement, reengineering, benchmarking, etc.). None seemed to have the “stickiness” factor that ultimately led to sustained improvement…
November 7, 2017
COPD, Sepsis Among Conditions Creating Coding Dilemmas in New AHA Coding Clinic
By Laurie Johnson, MS, RHIA, CPC-H, FAHIMA, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
AHA Fourth Quarter Coding Clinic identifies problematic diagnosis codes.Hopefully the subject of the most recently published Coding Clinic will not be too scary to discuss. It is effective for discharges from Oct. 1, 2017 forward. The majority of this issue (94 of the 111 pages) provides some background to the…
The topic of counterfeit or otherwise deeply flawed medical records continues to generate buzz nationwide. The case of “Robert,” a Talk Ten Tuesdays listener, reported during a recent edition of the weekly Internet broadcast revealed that in reviewing his electronic medical record (EMR), a documented physical exam was counterfeit –…
Media
Congress can’t seem to resist tinkering with healthcare through legislation.As we celebrate Halloween, we are seeing healthcare policy “zombies” here in Washington, D.C. – for as many times as congressional leadership has vowed to move on to other legislative topics, healthcare reform seems to always come back to life.The big…
October 31, 2017
Clinical Documentation Integrity Reduces Frustrations that Come with Change
By Rhonda Buckholtz, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CRC, CDEO, CHPSE, COPC, CPEDC, CGSC
CDI seen as a key solution to meeting regulatory policy changes.One thing is inevitable this time of year for all of us in healthcare: change is in the air. You either thrive amid it or hide, but even those best at hiding ultimately cannot escape. The question I often ponder…
October 31, 2017
False and Nonsensical Medical Records Reportedly Not Unusual
By Holly Louie, RN, BSN, CHBME
Poorly designed EHRs likely the culprit for the proliferation of false medical records.Last week Talk Ten Tuesdays listener “Robert” discussed during the weekly Internet broadcast the fact that a physical examination documented in his medical record for a recent hospital visit was false, indicating that the physician never performed an…
October 31, 2017
Exclusive: Healthcare Workers Struggle, Prevail in the Wake of Hurricane Maria
By Lorraine M. Martínez
Nation’s healthcare infrastructure remains fragile following historic storm.San Juan, Puerto Rico – Hurricane María was the strongest storm to slam Puerto Rico in 89 years, and the devastation it left caused a humanitarian crisis, especially in the field of healthcare and at hospitals around the island. Almost a month after…
Robert, a listener of Talk Ten Tuesdays, reported during last Tuesday’s broadcast that in reviewing his electronic medical record (EMR) the entire physical exam was counterfeit – no exam was performed.
Media
Mental health diagnoses offer possible insight into the mind of suspected Las Vegas mass murdered Stephen Paddock.EDITOR’S NOTE: The following are remarks by nationally renowned psychiatrist H. Steven Moffic, MD during a recent broadcast of Talk Ten Tuesdays.For reasons of understanding and possibly prevention, the question of what was wrong…
October 24, 2017
Medical Record Integrity: Fraud, Human, or Technology Errors?
By John R. Irwin, AB, JD, BS, MD
Electronic medical record (EMR) technology offers both advantages and pitfalls, but EMR errors must be investigated nonetheless. EDITOR’S NOTE: In this article Dr. John Irwin, a guest on last week’s Talk-Ten-Tuesdays broadcast, responds to “Robert,” a listener who reported that in reviewing his electronic medical record (EMR) for a recent…
Complexity of medical decision-making is key, but you can’t bill for something you didn’t do.This article was prompted by a Talk Ten Tuesdays listener’s question regarding his personal experience with the healthcare profession. He was evaluated in an emergency department (ED), never examined, but discovered a complete physical examination in…
The American Hospital Association steps in; the American Medical Association steps up.On Sept. 27, 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would not update its overall hospital quality star ratings in October 2017, as planned. This was primarily based on the public's feedback, but the…
October 17, 2017
Outpatient CDI Hacks to Improve Risk Adjustment Profiles
By Adele L. Towers, MD, MPH, FACP
Using the phrase “Hx of” and substituting “F/U of” will make a difference to the risk profile of outpatient providers.Lately I have been getting more requests from physicians to speak to them about outpatient clinical documentation improvement (CDI) and how to ensure that their risk adjustment profiles accurately reflect the…
October 17, 2017
New Coding Study Reveals E&M Encounters per Hour and the Need for Cybersecurity
By Frank Cohen
High degrees of variation abound in areas of coder productivity, certification.In a recent poll, only 80 percent of respondents to a question of how many evaluation and management (E&M) encounters they could code per hour said that they spent at least some portion of their time at work performing that…
Amid the chaos of the ED, order is needed.EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the final installment in a two-part series on clinical documentation integrity (CDI) in the emergency department (ED).It is my opinion that investing CDI resources into the neglected stepchild that is the hospital system ED is a worthwhile endeavor.…
A Talk Ten Tuesdays listener weighs in on woefully insufficient documentation of a routine visit.EDITOR’S NOTE: During last Tuesday’s Talk Ten Tuesdays broadcast, a listener who prefers to be called “Robert” sent an email message to us describing his recent experience as an emergency department (ED) patient – after which…
“I was an ED patient recently,” wrote Robert, a listener of the last edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays. “After receiving and reviewing my electronic medical record, it (was) revealed (that) the entire physical exam was counterfeit – no exam was performed. I was fully alert and my wife was present, yet (no) complete…
Media
October 10, 2017
AHIMA Conference Continues to Inspire and Innovate
By Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCDS, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
AHIMA conference programs include subjects designed to improve one’s proficiency in the areas of coding, documentation and compliance.The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), holding its annual convention and exhibit in Los Angeles this week, has as a theme, “Inspire, Innovate and Lead.” It is a joy to attend as…
With two recent major disasters confronting caregivers, the question remains: are caregivers prone to experience PTSD than others? Exhibiting a wealth of knowledge and instinct, honed and sharpened by experience, medical first responders and emergency room professionals triage and treat thousands of emergency department (ED) patients each year in America’s hospitals.…
The mass shooting in Las Vegas has prompted renewed attention on emergency medicine and trauma care and especially on the clinical documentation of care in this setting. I practiced emergency medicine (EM) for twenty-five years before I transitioned to being a physician advisor. My expertise had been in the professional…
Major financial penalties loom for providers not following reporting requirements.We are more than halfway through the first year of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), and a majority of clinicians still do not understand the program.In fact, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported that an…
Media
Painful to recall, yet now burned into the nation’s consciousness, are the gruesome scenes and sounds from last Sunday night’s shooting massacre during an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas, an event that left 59 dead and more than 500 injured.
Media
Puerto Rico hospitals continue to struggle in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.Reporting that only nine of 61 hospitals in Puerto Rico have electric power, a hospital billing company representative told Talk-Ten-Tuesdays listeners this past Tuesday that the lack of electricity is one of the biggest problems residents of the U.S.…
October 3, 2017
Industry Thought Leaders to be Featured during Live Broadcast from AHIMA Conference
By Mark Spivey
ICD10monitor is producing a two-day series of broadcasts featuring industry thought leaders presenting at the AHIMA 2017 Conference in Los Angeles next week.ICD10monitor will be broadcasting live from the American Health Information Management (AHIMA) 2017 Conference in Los Angeles next week, with a long lineup of subject matter experts scheduled…
October 3, 2017
Lessons Learned from Artificial Stupidity
By Scot Nemchik, CCS, AHIMA-Certified ICD-10 Trainer, and Patty T. Sheridan, MBA, RHIA, FAHIMA
Artificial intelligence is poised to be the next big revolution in healthcare. Are you ready?There isn’t a day that goes by without a story in the news on artificial intelligence, or AI, as we’ve come to know it. From Amazon’s Alexa and Samsung’s Bixby, to Apple’s Siri and IBM’s Watson,…
Now that the compliance deadline for implementing ICD-10 codes has passed, ICD-11 is already on the horizon. For the very latest news on this development, be sure to listen to the upcoming edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays, when Robert Jakob with the World Health Organization (WHO) will provide you with…
Media
October 3, 2017
CDI: Are We Competently Supporting the Practice of Medicine?
By Glenn Krauss, RHIA, BBA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, CCDS, C-CDI, PCS, FCS, C-CDAM
A comprehensive look at how clinical documentation improvement and the actual practice of medicine overlap.There are a multitude of business and ancillary healthcare processes that serve to support the practice of medicine. That practice centers on direct patient care, facilitated and dependent upon specific synergistic processes that contribute to cost-effective,…
MACRA continues to be a subject that perplexes providers even as the program evolves.It has been recently confirmed that the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) bundled payment has been cut from 67 to 34 percent in the program, and the carding rehabilitation incentive with bundled payments has been cancelled.…
Toting boxes filled with plaques, awards, and photos earned from decades of professional advocacy, speaking, writing, and volunteer work in the field of health information management (HIM), Gloryanne Bryant soon will gather her personal effects, take the elevator from her Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente (KP) office down to the lobby, and…
A new set of codes for blindness and low vision was recently released, and with that brings many changes for documentation and coding. The codes are effective Oct. 1, 2017and come as a result of a campaign by the World Health Organization (WHO), which in 2013 advocated for greater clarity…
Media
Senate Republicans will not vote to repeal and replace Obamacare. Congress must still deal with many other healthcare initiatives before Sept. 30. Who doesn’t love a good to-do list? But when it comes to what Congress is looking to accomplish in September, let alone before the end of the year,…
Hospital CDI managers always look for process improvement. Essentia Health’s outpatient CDI operation provides a practical case study. EDITOR’S NOTE: This the final installment in a two-part series on the clinical documentation integrity department at Essentia Health, a health system that serves Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Idaho.Becker’s Hospital Review…
September 26, 2017
Looking at new ICD-10-CM Codes for Blindness
By Rhonda Buckholtz, CPC, CPMA, CPC-I, CRC, CDEO, CHPSE, COPC, CPEDC, CGSC
ICD-10 codes for blindness and low vision are effective Oct. 1, 2017 and reflect parameters from the World Health Organization (WHO). A new set of codes was released for use beginning on Oct. 1, 2017. The category, H54, includes codes for blindness and low vision and with that brings many…
New developments in interoperability and mobile health technology were presented at the Translational Medicine Conference in Northern Ireland where the new Patient Buddy app was revealed. I attended the innovative eighth annual Translational Medicine Conference (http://www.c-tric.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/c-tric_conferenceprogramme_tmed8_v19w.pdf) this past week in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland, an event hosted by the Clinical Translational…
EDITOR’S NOTE: As the floodwaters caused by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey recede, anxiety is expected to rise as residents in impacted cities and states recover. Some even could experience post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). During the past two weeks, H. Steven Moffic, a former resident of Houston, has been closely monitoring…
September 19, 2017
Which of these educational topics do you feel would benefit you the most?
By Alixis Smith
September 19, 2017
Mental Health Alert: Reporting the Long-Term Impact of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey
By Chuck Buck
Tens of thousands of Americans are now living in shelters.
Media
September 19, 2017
What Was Missing at the ICD-10 C&M Meeting?
By Laurie Johnson, MS, RHIA, CPC-H, FAHIMA, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
Much was covered during the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee (C&M) meeting last week at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) headquarters in Baltimore.The first striking item was that there were no procedure proposals made during this meeting. There was discussion about three root operations – creation, control,…
September 19, 2017
Hurricanes Prompt Urgent Focus on Documenting Social Determinants of Health: Part II
By Diane Iverson, RN, BSN, BS, ACM, CCM
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second installment in a two-part series on the coding and documenting of social determinants of health (SDoH). It comes on the heels of the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and their impact on victims and survivors in the flood-ravaged states of Texas and Florida.The…
September 19, 2017
When Coding, Don’t Confuse Operation with Root Operation
By Erica E. Remer, MD, FACEP, CCDS
EDITOR’S NOTE: During a recent Talk Ten Tuesdays, Candice, a listener, asked Erica Remer, MD a question about pyloromyotomy root operation. Dr. Remer’s response appears below.Paraphrased, the question posed centered on the notion that references previously recommended using dilation as a root operation because the intent of pyloromyotomy is to…
In the coding and clinical documentation community, we are still trying to sort out sepsis. In my previous article on this topic (https://www.icd10monitor.com/sepsis-then-and-now-how-the-oldest-disease-continues-to-plague-providers-part-ii), I made some recommendations on how to approach sepsis. We need to revisit this.We have now had some time to live with the Sepsis-3 criteria, established by…
EDITOR’S NOTE: This the first in a two-part series on the clinical documentation integrity department at Essentia Health, a health system that serves Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Idaho.Previously, Essentia Health’s clinical documentation improvement (CDI) department consisted of three segregated, separated, regional teams. Employees had minimal interaction with each other.…
September 12, 2017
Hurricanes Prompt Urgent Focus on Documenting Social Determinants of Health: Part I
By Diane Iverson, RN, BSN, BS, ACM, CCM
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a two-part series on the coding and documenting of social determinants of health (SdoH). It comes on the heels of the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and their impact on victims and survivors in the flood-ravaged cities of Texas and Florida. Hurricanes…
September 12, 2017
ICD-10 New Codes: Pressure Mounts as Deadline Approaches When New Codes Become Effective
By Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCDS, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
Now it’s just a little less than three weeks until the beginning of October and when the fiscal year (FY) 2018 changes for ICD-10-CM take effect. Here is a summary of the new changes for ICD-10-CM: 360 new code additions 142 deletions 250+ revisions The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid…
September 12, 2017
We are exploring which sepsis criteria your facility/institution uses.
By Alixis Smith
September 12, 2017
Two Developing Stories: ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee Meeting and Hurricane Irma’s Unreported Consequences
By Chuck Buck
The next big milestone for ICD-10 is the Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting in Baltimore this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. The two-day meeting will cover the latest requests for diagnosis and procedure codes. Monitoring and reporting on the meeting during the next edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays will be Gloryanne…
Media
September 8, 2017
Providers Adjusting on the Fly as Hurricane Irma Sets Sights on South Florida
By Laurie Johnson, MS, RHIA, CPC-H, FAHIMA, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
EDITOR’S NOTE: At this hour Laurie Johnson is at the Fort Lauderdale Airport awaiting a Southwest Airline flight that is expected to return her tonight to Pittsburgh, Pa.BOCA RATON---Have you ever experienced preparations for a hurricane in a health information management (HIM) department? I just recently added this experience to…
The outpatient clinical documentation program at Essentia Health will be the subject of a special report during the next edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays. Discussing how the department is organized and staffed will be Tracy Boldt, the system’s manager. Essentia is an integrated health system serving patients in Minnesota, Wisconsin,…
Media
August 29, 2017
News Alert: Harvey Triggers Administrative Relief for Texas Hospitals
By Denise Wilson MS, RN, RRT
Today my thoughts go out to the people of Texas, especially the first responders and caregivers and all of those being impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Harvey made landfall in Texas on Friday night as the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. in more than a decade, and because it has…
This is the year of many Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulatory requirement changes. This includes the Merit-Based Incentive Program (MIPS), the next steps toward mandatory Authorized Use Criteria (AUC) implementation for advanced imaging, defining more explicitly what is and what is not “quality” care, etc. It is…
August 29, 2017
Conditions That Risk-Adjust for Inpatients Not Always the Same for Outpatients
By Erica E. Remer, MD, FACEP, CCDS
Last week Tracy Boldt contacted me to ask a question about outpatient clinical documentation integrity (CDI), and we are lucky to have her on the Talk-Ten-Tuesdays broadcast today, detailing Essentia Health’s successful outpatient CDI program. She also mentioned that she had been awaiting the third installment of my three-part series…
August 29, 2017
Why CDI Needs a Wake-up Call
By Glenn Krauss, RHIA, BBA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, CCDS, C-CDI, PCS, FCS, C-CDAM
A recent conversation with a fellow clinical documentation integrity (CDI) specialist about the role of the profession as it pertains to enhancing and affecting positive change in communication of patient care by transitioning to a more holistic approach really struck a chord in me – and it made me question…
For my last article, I wrote about unexplained clinical variation as it pertains to surgical procedures. Today I continue exploring this theme.For men with low-risk prostate cancer, randomized controlled trials have found that active treatment such as radiation or prostatectomy does not improve mortality rates as compared to an initial…
August 22, 2017
The Role of Scribes in Clinical Documentation Integrity
By Brigid T. Caffrey, BA, BS, MS, CCS
Upon seeing signature attestations of medical scribes on client documents, I became curious as to their duties and training. I was interested in exploring a way in which they may contribute to the goal of clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs. Since scribes can be employed in any healthcare environment or…
It’s that magical time of year for parents everywhere: back-to-school time. With a return to school comes a flurry of activity and planning and, in addition to obtaining school supplies and new clothes, parents must begin figuring out what their kids are going to eat for lunch. Whether that lunch…
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the third and final installment in a three-part series by Dr. Remer on outpatient clinical documentation integrity.In the first two parts of this series, we talked about risk adjustment in general, the shift to population health management, and how quality metrics and reimbursement are linked…
Approximately every five years, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the European Society of Cardiology, and the World Heart Federation convene workgroups to try to standardize the definition of myocardial infarction (MI) for both documentation and research purposes. The last iteration in 2012 produced five different classifications.The…
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Editorial Board
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Bonnie S. Cassidy, MPA, RHIA, FAHIMA, FHIMSSCesar M Limjoco, MDChuck BuckDeborah Grider, CPC, CPC-H, CPC-I, CPC-P, CPMA, CEMC, CCS-P, CDIP, Certified Clinical Documentation Improvement PractitionerDenise M. Nash, MD, CCS, CIMErica E. Remer, MD, FACEP, CCDSEvan M. Gwilliam, DC, MBA, BS, CPC, CCPC, CCCPC, NCICS, CPC-I MCS-P, CPMAGlenn Krauss, RHIA, BBA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, CCDS, C-CDI, PCS, FCS, C-CDAMGloryanne Bryant, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCDS, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS TrainerHolly Louie, RN, BSN, CHBMEJoseph C. Nichols, MDKim Carr, RHIT, CCS, CDIP, CCDS, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer
