Recent CDI-related headlines include concerns about the burden of paperwork on patient care and the cost of healthcare. And article authors cite a few recent surveys to back up such assertions.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) offered mixed reviews of CMS’ handling of the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) demonstration program, according to a report released March 31. While the...Read More »
Effective January 1, 2011, CMS is expanding the number of ICD-9 diagnosis and procedure codes processed on institutional claims, according to an MLN Matters® article released March 5, 2010.
In 2008, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed a sample of nearly 300 Medicare hospitalizations from two counties in a one-week period in order to analyze current methods of identifying adverse events in hospitals. According to a report released this month, vulnerabilities exist in...Read More »
CMS will provide a a basic introduction to ICD-10-CM during its National Provider Conference Call of Tuesday, March 23, from 1-2:30 p.m. (EST). The call will discuss the requirement to report ICD-10, outline the benefits of the switch from ICD-9, discuss general structural differences between...Read More »
For CDI specialists, the physician signature is one more critical piece of documentation to keep an eye on. Actually, it’s one of primary reasons to query the physician according to the AHIMA physician query practice brief, “Managing an Effective Query Process”. CMS Transmittal 326 (Change...Read More »
More than 300 CDI specialists participated in the 2009 ACDIS salary survey. Respondents answered questions about CDI specialists’ compensation (most make between $50,000 and $70,000 on average), their program structure (most CDI programs...Read More »
Those who lived through the RAC demonstration project learned valuable lessons along the way, lessons that CDI professionals can use as the RAC reviews become permanent and audits begin to take on more medical necessity and documentation concerns.
