The last few weeks have been mind-spinning. First and foremost, the 2017 inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) final rule, which includes Medicare payment system changes, coding changes, and MS-DRG shifts, was...Read More »
The Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Sep- tic Shock published new clinical guidelines for diagnosing sepsis, dubbed Sepsis-3, earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Although CMS chose not to adopt the new criteria in a...Read More »
The world didn’t end on October 1, 2015. After years of postponement, the proverbial “deal with the devil” made between CMS and the AMA to push ahead with ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation was a year’s grace period during which...Read More »
Clinical documentation improvement (CDI) specialists and case managers share a common goal but often are not on the same page when it comes to improving documentation within the hospital, says Glenn Krauss, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, C-CDI, CCDS, director of enterprise solutions for Zirmed, in...Read More »
Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Washington, has had a successful inpatient CDI program for seven years. In spring 2014, the facility, which encompasses 32 clinics and two acute care hospitals, began discussing CDI in the ambulatory setting, says...Read More »
Q: I am looking for additional clarification regarding the recent AHA Coding Clinic for ICD-10-CM/PCS concerning diabetes and the use of the word “with.” While the examples often used in Coding Clinic are specific, the actual...Read More »
Call me unorthodox, but let’s start at the back of the latest edition of the American Hospital Association (AHA)’s Coding Clinic for ICD-10-CM/PCS for this review. Here, on pp. 36–37, we have the clarifications, including some potentially confusing—and possibly conflicting—information...Read More »
I have previously addressed the issue of auditor denials. However, given the industry changes I have witnessed in the last 12–18 months, it is time to revisit this problem. And, per communications with colleagues in the CDI world, I suspect the same...Read More »