As part of the 14th annual Clinical Documentation Integrity Week, ACDIS conducted a series of interviews with CDI professionals on a variety of emerging industry topics. Kelly Benson, BSN, RN, CCDS, CDI regional manager at Memorial Hermann Health in Houston, Texas, answered these...Read More »
Q: Regarding the role of prior encounters in queries, is there a recommended timeframe for how long ago the prior encounter should occur to be used in a query? If a patient’s last ECHO was three years ago, should that information from a prior encounter still be pulled into a query?...Read More »
Q: Do you query for acute pulmonary insufficiency? If so, what criteria do you use?
Response #1: We have recently begun to educate our providers (especially cardiothoracic surgeons) on using this diagnosis. We tell them to utilize it for...Read More »
Q: If nephrology or another consultant notes acute kidney injury (AKI)/acute renal failure (ARF), but the attending is not writing diagnosis, should you query? I was taught to have the attending confirm the diagnosis written by the consultant(s) to validate diagnosis, maintain...Read More »
Q: We’re attempting to make provider queries part of our medical record which coding can use to pick up codes. Does anyone have experience with this they could share? We are interested in: Components of a query (complaint query), who to send the query to, who is responsible for...Read More »
Not all CDI departments are directly involved in denials management. However, every CDI specialist plays a vital role in denials management through concurrent chart reviews and collaboration with healthcare providers. Sepsis, acute...Read More »