medical coding

Auditing Issues Uncovered in Physician Documentation: Part IV

By Terry Fletcher BS, CPC, CCC, CEMC, CCS, CCS-P, CMC, CMCSC, CMCS, ACS-CA, SCP-CA for ICD10 Monitor Editor’s Note: This is the final installment in a four-part series that examines physician documentation issues as seen by an auditor. Click here to read part one: Auditing Issues Uncovered in Physician Documentation: Part I Click here to read…

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How to Improve the Query Process

By Marisa MacClary for For the Record The only way hospital clinical documentation improvement (CDI) and coding staff may compliantly clarify physician documentation for the purpose of accurate coding is to query the physician. The physician query process is essential to ensure accurate quality scores and proper reimbursement. However, most CDI specialists, coders, and physicians…

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Coding-Clinical Disconnect Reducing Apparent Child Abuse Incidence? Not on My Watch

By Erica E. Remer, MD, FACEP, CCDS for ICD10 Monitor Some providers hesitate to use the word “abuse” preferring, instead, to use non-accidental trauma (NAT). Despite what revenue cycle may believe, clinical documentation is not solely for billing. One of the biggest problems with imprecise, nonspecific diagnoses which lead to unspecified codes or, even worse,…

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CDI Can Help Reduce Medical Errors

By Glenn Krauss, RHIA, BBA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, CCDS, C-CDI, PCS, FCS, C-CDAM for ICD10 Monitor CDI, when properly performed, supports the ancient physician oath, “First, do no harm.”  Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists(CDISs) play a vital role in the overall scheme of healthcare delivery through affecting measurable meaningful improvement in the quality, completeness, and accuracy…

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Auditing Issues Uncovered in Physician Documentation: Part II

By Terry Fletcher BS, CPC, CCC, CEMC, CCS, CCS-P, CMC, CMCSC, CMCS, ACS-CA, SCP-CA for ICD10 Monitor Physician documentation issues during an audit go beyond CDI. The issues are the chief complaint and HPI. Editor’s Note: This is the second piece in a four-part series that examines physician documentation issues as seen by an auditor. Click here…

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Feeling the Burn: Confessions of a Formerly Burned Out Coder

By Kristi Pollard, RHIT, CCS, CPC, CIRCC, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer for ICD10 Monitor Ten strategies for avoiding burnout are provided by the author. On any given day, if you walked into my home office, you might think you were in a spa. The walls are painted a soothing aqua color (at least, I think it’s soothing),…

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In Outpatient CDI, Timing is Everything

Article by Susan Richards Morgan, CCS, CPHQ, CPC, CDEO, CRC, CPMA, CEMC, CPC-I. This article was originally published on the A Journal of AHIMA Blog on April 25, 2018 and is republished here with permission. Currently, most clinical documentation improvement (CDI) programs have been developed inside hospitals with an inpatient focus. Medicare generally expects an inpatient admission to need two…

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Auditing Issues Uncovered in Physician Documentation: Part I

By Terry Fletcher BS, CPC, CCC, CEMC, CCS, CCS-P, CMC, CMCSC, CMCS, ACS-CA, SCP-CA for ICD10 Monitor Physician documentation issues during an audit go beyond CDI. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a four-part series that examines physician documentation issues as seen by an auditor. One of the services I offer, aside from coding…

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