Our hospital serves a higher than usual population with COPD. Most of these cases are chronic and the patient is typically on home oxygen. Blood gases are almost never obtained on admission unless the patient is placed on a ventilator. Is acceptable to query the physician for chronic respiratory...Read More »
On June 11, the ACDIS Advisory Board submitted comments to CMS regarding proposed changes to the Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) and proposed fiscal year 2013 rates, as published in the May 11, 2012 Federal Register (CMS-1588-P). Its comments addressed...Read More »
CMS recently posted two separate sets of data that provide nationwide statistics on its Recovery Auditor program. The first update contains improper payment figures as well as the top Recovery Auditor issue per region. In the second update, CMS provides appeals statistics for fiscal year 2011....Read More »
Does your facility mandate physician participation in CDI orientation?
That’s the question SC ACDIS Chapter leader Rebecca “Ali” Williams, RN, BSN, CCDS, manager of documentation integrity for Spartanburg (SC) Regional Medical Center & Village Hospital asked fellow chapter...Read More »
Current SIRS criteria are insufficient, confusing, and don't indicate whether a patient is truly sick, says Robert S. Gold, MD, founder and CEO of DCBA, Inc., in Atlanta.
Some patients—particularly those who are critically ill—may meet necessary criteria for SIRS and truly have...Read More »
ACDIS invites you to join a work group to research industry needs and develop best practices for physician/provider queries. The work group deliverables will serve to educate members and the industry on ongoing physician and provider query questions, and will be conducted in conjunction with the...Read More »
Over a nine-year period, from 2001 to 2010, physicians increased billing of higher level evaluation and management (E/M) codes in all types of E/M services, according to an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report released in May...Read More »
Patients of physicians using dictated electronic health records appear to be receiving lower quality care than those of physicians who use structured or even free-text documentation. At least that’s the findings of a recent study by Jeffrey A. Linder, PhD, division of general medicine and...Read More »
