Q:Our neurologist often documents encephalopathy for many of our patients. If an elderly patient came in with altered mental status (AMS), delirium, and has baseline dementia, can we code encephalopathy? What if the physician...Read More »
Mary Beth Bumbarger, RHIA, CHDA, CCS, will present “Mortality Measures Optimization: Getting to Know the Data,” on Day 2 of the ACDIS conference. Bumbarger is the director of the health information and quality management at the Brundage Group. ...Read More »
Q:We use the pre-bill reconciliation process at the time of coding and are trying to determine the true CDI/coding match rate. If the CDI specialist doesn’t enter the queried diagnosis in their working DRG but the physician...Read More »
Q:In what instance would septic shock not be coded as the principal diagnosis? I’ve been under the impression that it should always be principal.Read More »
Q:I’ve heard people say that CDI professionals should be wary of conflicting diagnoses that occur in the discharge summary as the provider’s documentation may not “conflict” with the consulting provider. Can you clarify what...Read More »
Q: A physician documented that a pregnant patient is obese, and the patient’s chart has a listed BMI score. Can we assign an ICD-10-CM BMI code in this instance or should this never be done for an obstetrics patient? Read More »
Q:I have a question about Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Reports (PEPPER). How does a high volume of cases with a single CC or MCC affect the mortality index?Read More »