When a patient comes in with two diagnoses and the documentation reflects that either could be the principal diagnosis, do we choose the principal as the diagnosis that is being treated more intensely, or do we choose the higher paying DRG? Is it true that when a patient comes in with two...Read More »
With more than a million respiratory failure discharges annually, CDI professionals need to consistently refresh their clinical and coding knowledge to compose effective queries. New information related to the use of supplemental oxygen for hospitalized adults, including a chart relating to the...Read More »
The ACDIS Forms & Tools Committee regularly reviews submissions of items such as sample query templates, job descriptions, and audit tools for compliance and usability. If the committee finds the items to meet all criteria and believes they will be useful to other CDI professionals, they...Read More »
I’ve heard that the geometric length of stay (GMLOS) is always rounded to the nearest whole number as inpatient claims are paid by day. Based on my understanding of the inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS), I thought that each inpatient stay is paid by a fixed amount, regardless of the...Read More »
We recently had a patient admitted with severe acute meningitis causing respiratory decompensation. A diagnostic lumbar puncture and mechanical ventilation were both performed during the inpatient stay. Which of the two procedures would be the principal procedure, diagnostic lumbar puncture or...Read More »
