As the coordinator for the Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist (CCDS) exam program, lots of folks ask me for CCDS exam prep tips. But I’m not a CDI professional—I don’t even play one on television—so I asked our CDI Education Director and Boot Camp...Read More »
With the help of our hospital quality improvement (QI) committees, we can take action to restore the integrity of the discharge summary. Consider the following:
My first trip to Las Vegas was back in 2006. I was a novice traveler at best. Luckily, I was in good company with my team of coworkers. My husband also came with us. With his schedule free, he’d take a swim in the hotel lap pool in the morning, meet me out by...Read More »
Nursing notes cannot be used for coding and billing purposes. This does not mean, however, that they’re worthless for CDI purposes. Often times, CDI specialists neglect reviewing this documentation because they know it can’t be coded. This is a mistake.
At our office in Middleton, we sit beside a row of windows overlooking a parking lot and—at the moment—rolling hills of autumnal foliage shrouded in mist. About an hour ago, a big ‘ole crow landed on the window ledge and poked at each window pane before...Read More »
Those applying to take the CCDS exam or recertify no longer have to write their applications by hand, since ACDIS implemented new editable PDF applications, candidates can complete electronically, on their computer. Read More »
The third reason that the discharge summary is more important than the H&P is that, given that the ICD-10-CM principal diagnosis establishes the foundation for the diagnosis-related group (DRG) essential to cost-efficiency measurement, we must be crystal clear what condition we determined ...Read More »
ACDIS has a number of training and educational materials and it can be hard to decide which program best fits your needs. Our members often ask me to recommend a program for them, so I thought I’d share my short answers to help you figure out which program is...Read More »