Rules governing code assignment often don’t make sense to those coming to CDI from the clinical side of the house. In truth, they often confound professionals with years of HIM/coding experience, too. And most CDI and coding professionals have a list of frustrations when it comes to translating...Read More »
by Sharme Brodie, RN, CCDS
I’m glad I’m not the only one who sometimes has a problem determining the proper codes and their proper sequence. I also must not be the only person out there who has questions about coding diabetes, it turns out, because the Third Quarter 2018 edition...Read More »
Q:If the patient comes in with a high blood alcohol level and the provider documents that number in their note, do they also need to specifically write “patient with intoxication?”Read More »
By Shannon McCall, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, CEMC, CRC, CCDS
It’s that time of year again: I am perusing proposed rules, which always hold a few interesting potential changes for the upcoming fiscal year. However, as I read the proposed rule for the 2019 Medicare Physician Fee...Read More »
There are a number of etiologies leading to pediatric respiratory failure, just as there are with adult patients. To begin with, pediatric patients can come to an acquired extrathoracic airway from an infectious source (e.g., retropharyngeal abscesses, Ludwig’s angina, bacterial tracheitis,...Read More »
Q: I need some help understanding severity of illness (SOI) and risk of mortality (ROM) as it’s my first encounter with APR-DRG factors that may affect reimbursement. First, how does one measure the SOI and ROM? Could you elaborate on how complications or comorbidities (CC) and major CCs...Read More »