Martha Stanley, RN, MSN, CCM, is a CDI specialist at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, NM. Farmington is in the high desert near the famous four corners— the place where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah meet in perfect unison.Read More »
If you have experience with the topics below, please email Associate Editorial Director Linnea Archibald at linnea.archibald@hcpro.com by noon eastern on Friday, February 16, and she'll connect you with the relevant folks at the end of the day on...Read More »
By providing an opportunity for local chapter participants to give back to the community, ACDIS Local Chapter leaders say they are responding to an inherent trait of CDI professionals.
"You never know how your actions are going to affect someone,” say Virginia ACDIS chapter leader ...Read More »
CMS recently published a draft ICD-10 MS-DRG definitions. According to the website, the definitions are displayed in 'grouper logic order,' meaning that the MS-DRGs are listed in the order in which the grouper recognizes them. “This enables users to see instances where grouper logic order...Read More »
An emergency department (ED) physician diagnosed a patient with pneumonia. He was concerned about a possible nosocomial etiology given the patient’s recent hospital discharge for problems related to atrial fibrillation. Because the patient’s Pneumonia...Read More »
MLN Matters article SE1121 emphasizes that coders must consider all documentation from licensed treating physicians and attending physicians when assigning a principal diagnosis. It states:
“The emergency room report, history and physical (H&P),...Read More »
What is the correct principal diagnosis in the following case? A 59-year-old male with history of (h/o)bladder cancer and failure to follow up was admitted for video-assisted thoracic surgery (VAT) for pulmonary nodules found on imaging. The patient had the VAT procedure and a pulmonary wedge...Read More »
Q: I have a question regarding sequencing. I would usually have sequenced 428.21 (heart failure) as principal diagnosis, but I was advised by my inpatient coder that she would sequence 404.91 (Unspecified hypertensive heart and renal disease with heart failure) as the principal...Read More »
