Q: I remember reading an article, or a Coding Clinic, that basically said it was inappropriate for facilities to set internal policies for coding conditions based on clinical criteria, but I can’t find the reference. Can point me in...Read More »
Q:A patient recently came in with SOB and was found to have a incarcerated ventral hernia. SOB was documented throughout the record. Can SOB be coded separately or is it integral to hernia?Read More »
Q:I saw that there are separate codes for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and acute respiratory distress. What’s the difference between ARDS and acute respiratory distress?Read More »
Q:One of my CDI staff members recently asked me for resources to help differentiate between an acute PE/DVT and a chronic PE/DVT. She’s looking for anything that could help her explain the difference to a physician, but I’m...Read More »
Megan Cortazzo, MD, will present “End the CDI Silo: How Collaborative Programs Improve Revenue, Quality, and Physician Engagement,” on Day 2 of the ACDIS conference. Cortazzo is the medical director of CDI and Health Information Management (HIM) at University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in...Read More »
Q: How much does your CDI team focus on unspecified codes if it does not have an affect on the case? For example, a patient has hypertensive heart and CKD, unspecified with clinical indicators of CKD stage 3, but this was not clarified...Read More »
Q:I’m looking at the HCC information on the CMS website and am having trouble navigating it. How can I find the current year CMS-HCC list without the count variables model (drop list)? What about the current year ICD-10-CM and...Read More »
