Let’s face it: Our organizations are under tremendous scrutiny. As the healthcare dollar shrinks, all payers strive to minimize patient care expenses to maintain profit margins.
Strokes are complicated, which is why it is important for inpatient coders to be familiar with the brain’s anatomy and the clinical concepts of a stroke in order to report the most accurate ICD-10-CM codes.
Audit defense is a key strategy to ensure coding and billing compliance and defend earned revenue. It’s more important than ever as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drain hospital resources, but with HIM departments already stretched thin, it’s also more difficult than ever.
Facilities that are not leveraging CDI efforts for denials management and tracking denials as a key performance indicator (KPI) should consider doing so. Denials are the framework for identifying gaps in provider documentation and are a surefire approach to tailoring physician education that is meaningful.
In 2005, the International Pediatric Sepsis Consensus Conference published definitions for sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock. Sepsis among children is defined as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) associated with suspected or proven infection.
ICD-10-CM reporting for genitourinary conditions requires careful attention to detail as many codes in this section of the manual are for conditions that involve multiple body structures and that present with a variety of symptoms.
Hospitals across the country marked the start of the new year by posting new and more detailed price information online. With the Hospital Price Transparency final rule, which became effective January 1, 2021, CMS completed the most ambitious chapter in its ongoing price transparency efforts.
Malnutrition is notorious for its impact on hospital reimbursement. For example, in 2018 the Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an internal audit of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority. The audit revealed an overpayment of $9,569,586 for the billing of malnutrition.
