At a confidential agency briefing in August 2010, CMS officials outlined steps to recover more than $128 million in alleged 2007 overpayments from five Medicare Advantage insurer...Read More »
Q: I can't distinguish between "code first" and "in diseases classified elsewhere.” Both are used with manifestations and both can't be sequenced as principal diagnosis, and both need etiology codes so what is the difference?
Call it a no-brainer but recent research shows a “strong association” related to “clinically validated” patient safety indicators (PSIs) and patient outcomes such as increased length of stay and high rates of hospital readmissions and mortality. It is a no-brainer because PSIs are a set of...Read More »
We invite you to nominate a colleague for the 2017 ACDIS Achievement Awards, someone who has made significant contributions to the CDI field, who makes a difference in the profession, or is an outspoken advocate of CDI. We are accepting nominations until Friday, February 3, 2017. (To submit a...Read More »
Back in 2013, when James Wall, RN, BSN, CCS, joined the organization, LifePoint’s nearly 60 facilities had a hodgepodge approach to CDI efforts. In fact, only 10 even had CDI programs in place and of that, five were staffed in-house, from within the hospital, and five were staffed by outside (...Read More »
It's time to submit nominations for the ACDIS Achievement Awards, to be presented at the 10th annual ACDIS Conference, May 9 - 12, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Please fill out the nomination form by Friday, February 17, 2017. Click here:...Read More »
Every quarter since January 2014, the American Hospital Association (AHA) has collected and published survey data from its member facilities regarding government audit activities in its RACTrac surveys, reports, and related webinars. Although new Recovery Auditor contracts were awarded in...Read More »
by Richard D. Pinson, MD, FACP
In its 2016 Third Quarter edition, the AHA’s Coding Clinic for ICD-10-CM/PCS clarified the use of the following two ICD-10 codes:
J44.0: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with acute lower respiratory infection
