A 2007 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that direct communication between hospital physicians and primary care physicians occurs infrequently, and that discharge summaries are often times unavailable at the first post-...Read More »
Too many organizations measure the effectiveness of their CDI program solely by an increase in Medicare case-mix index (CMI). This perspective is faulty for many reasons, but primarily because CMS frowns upon it. CMS views this practice as a strategy to...Read More »
Q: As manager of data integrity I oversee my facility’s CDI program. Can you recommend specifically what MS-DRGs are best to review and track or what CCs should we track?
The good news is that ACDIS has secured additional rooms at the Chicago Hyatt Regency for just $185 for Wednesday, June 2 and Thursday, June 4, the two days of the 3rd Annual ACDIS Conference. But these additional rooms are selling out quickly. There are currently less than 200 rooms left each...Read More »
In 2008, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed a sample of nearly 300 Medicare hospitalizations from two counties in a one-week period in order to analyze current methods of identifying adverse events in hospitals. According to a report released this month, vulnerabilities exist in...Read More »
CMS will provide a a basic introduction to ICD-10-CM during its National Provider Conference Call of Tuesday, March 23, from 1-2:30 p.m. (EST). The call will discuss the requirement to report ICD-10, outline the benefits of the switch from ICD-9, discuss general structural differences between...Read More »
Although AHIMA’s October 2008 practice brief “Managing an Effective Query Process” clearly states that the agency intended the article as guidance, not regulation, CDI programs should regularly review their query practices, policies, and procedures to determine if any problem areas may need to...Read More »
For CDI specialists, the physician signature is one more critical piece of documentation to keep an eye on. Actually, it’s one of primary reasons to query the physician according to the AHIMA physician query practice brief, “Managing an Effective Query Process”. CMS Transmittal 326 (Change...Read More »