Q: The word "with” is interpreted to mean "associated with " or “due to" per the Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting. Although "with" can link two diagnoses, it does not represent a cause-and-effect relationship. But we also need to use direct linking with wording such as "...Read More »
Kenzi Brooks, CCS, CRC, CPC, COC, CCDS-O, is an outpatient CDI specialist at WVU Medicine in Morgantown, West Virginia. She has been in CDI since 2019 and started part time before stepping into a full-time role with the department.
ACDIS: What did you do before entering CDI...Read More »
Q: What is the best way to handle a query that has been written inappropriately?
A: If I understand your question correctly, it seems like there might be a situation where it was discovered that some queries were questionably written. By...Read More »
Q: It has been my understanding that coding of restraint status is essential for mortality reviews, but I’ve never heard it explained how this code impacts the chart. Could you explain the impact?
A: This is a great question. Restraint...Read More »
Q: In this scenario, the patient has severe vascular necrosis and osteoarthritis/osteonecrosis of bilateral hips. She came in to have a right total hip arthroplasty (THA) and left hip core decompression. Day one after her surgery during physical therapy, she was standing and reached...Read More »
Jessica Risner, RN, BSN, CCDS, is the CDI enterprise director at Banner Health in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a member of the ACDIS Leadership Council and of the Arizona ACDIS local chapter. She is also a lead for the Arizona CDI director networking group.
Q: Are any healthcare organizations outsourcing their CDI department with foreign workers? If the department is remote anyway, what benefits and drawbacks are there to utilizing foreign CDI team members at a lower cost?
