ACDIS Associate Editorial Director Linnea Archibald sends out “missed connections” emails with questions from Council members on a regular basis. Anyone with experience related to one of the questions was invited to respond and Archibald connected them with the question-asker. In order to share...Read More »
Q: AHIMA’s 2008 practice brief, “Managing an Effective Query Process,” appears to allow the initiation of post-bill queries as a result of an audit or other internal monitor. Historically we believed that a query completed after the initial...Read More »
Q: Since Acute Renal Failure (ARF) is no longer a MCC (as of October 1, 2010). I would like some input on how facilities have coped with the change. Do you just code ARF, or have you started querying physicians for more specific information such as documentation for acute...Read More »
Q: Some physicians are uncomfortable making addendums to the discharge summary to include the pathological findings (e.g., malignancy). Instead, they dictate a tumor board note to summarize the course of treatment and final pathological diagnosis. However, the tumor board note is usually dated...Read More »
Q: Confession. I am very frustrated. I am fairly new to CDI. I have a nursing background. I’m trying to understand how the coding and DRG system works. But when I look up a diagnosis in the DRG Expert in the alphabetic index to diseases it is not listed as I would expect it to be....Read More »
Q: How should I query for systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) if SIRS codes to sepsis? I want to correctly query and obtain the proper supporting information in the medical record in the event of an audit. Any discussion on this topic is appreciated.Read More »
Q: Our small hospital has decided at this time that they no longer need the services of a Physician Advisor (PA). He will only be here another sixty days. Can you tell me from your perspective why a hospital should have a PA?Read More »
