Cheryl Manchenton, RN, BSN, says that to achieve accurate quality rankings and value-based payments, efforts must extend far beyond coding and CDI to include clinical providers, quality specialists, and other healthcare professionals—and everyone must collaborate to achieve positive results.
Allen Frady, RN-BSN, CCDS, CCS, CRC, answers questions about the fiscal year 2018 IPPS final rule’s updates, additions, and deletions in hopes to help guide coders and clinical documentation improvement specialists through the implementation.
In 2017, an estimated 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S. In this article, Shannon McCall, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, CEMC, CRC, CCDS , details best practices when assigning ICD-10-CM/PCS codes for breast cancer diagnoses and procedures. Note: To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CCDS, CDIP , deciphers the new information given for functional quadriplegia, marasmus, kwashiorkor, and palliative care found in the various fiscal year 2018 ICD-10-CM guidance updates.
On October 4, CMS issued a notice in the Federal Register containing numerous corrections to the 2018 IPPS final rule, including significant recalculations of MS-DRG relative weights and all budget neutrality factors.
While the Affordable Care Act has led to fewer 30-day readmissions, this reduction in readmissions does not correlate with 30-day mortality rates, according to a recent JAMA study.
Mortality reviews pose a special challenge—not only does the CDI specialist need to know the ins and outs of severity of illness and risk of mortality, but the cases themselves are typically more complicated than an average hospital stay, making these essential reviews even more complex.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of heart arrhythmia in the U.S. Adrienne Commeree, CPC, CPMA, CCS, CEMC, CPIP , writes that an understanding of ICD-10-CM coding and sequencing for this condition is key, but coders still need to navigate ICD-10-PCS codes to capture the surgical services performed at the facility. Note: To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
Now that the fiscal year 2018 ICD-10-CM/PCS codes have been implemented , James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CCDS, CDIP , reviews some of the compliance pitfalls that coders may encounter for diagnoses including Type 2 myocardial infarction, the pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale, and right heart failure.
The amount of energy it takes to stay up-to-date on all the relevant payment and coding updates can be overwhelming, and one relatively new solution to this conundrum is the addition of a CDI educator—an individual dedicated to the educational needs of the CDI team and, in some cases, even physicians.
CMS recently released the 2018 IPPS final rule, which featured 2,916 of its now-annual ICD-10-PCS code additions, deletions, and revisions. This article reviews changes to ICD-10-PCS codes including the addition of short-term device characters and various table updates. Note: To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
Q: When it comes to conditions not related to hypertension, is it sufficient to attribute the diagnosis to another etiology or does the provider need to specifically document that the congestive heart failure (CHF) is not due to hypertension?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one of the Cooperating Parties responsible for the ICD-10-CM codes and guidelines, recently released a 2018 ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting errata. Slight changes were made to the guidelines for diabetes, hypertension, and principal diagnosis selection.
CMS recently released the 2018 IPPS final rule, with updates to various quality initiatives, annual payment updates for inpatient services, and an extensive amount of now-annual ICD-10-PCS code additions, deletions, and revisions. This article reviews guideline updates, the addition of “other devices” characters, and new tables added for root operation Replacement. Note: To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
Beginning or expanding a remote CDI program requires planning, and it might not be for everyone. But, with the right preparation, organizations can make the transition beneficial to all.
James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CCDS, CDIP, details how Coding Clinic , Second Quarter 2017, did not disappoint in addressing clinical issues affecting those in coding compliance and instructing how to properly use the ICD-10-CM Index and Table .
The fiscal year 2018 IPPS final rule included updates to payment rates and quality initiatives, as well as an ample amount of code changes and updates to ICD-10-PCS non-OR to OR code designations.
