Guest Post: Football analogy helps CDI efforts cross the goal line

by Shelia Bullock, RN, BSN, MBA, CCM, CCDS

If you are from the South, football is all that matters. I grew up in Alabama and now live in Mississippi. You have to understand that this time of year all we care about is tailgating and football. So my advice is to weave an analogy around America’s (and physicians’) fascination with the pigskin. Consider the following:

ICD-9 code updates, MCC/CC revisions, and new MS-DRGs begin with patient discharges on October 1. Think of it as the season opener. Is your team ready? Does everyone have the new play book? Have you ordered your new coding books? Is your equipment updated and ready for the first game?

The team has to prepare today to be ready to meet the new challenges facing us this season. We must train our offensive line (CDIs) to begin querying for the new codes the last week of September. We need to make sure our defensive line (coders) have the tools to query pre-bill by October 1.

We need to make sure our pre-printed or electronic query forms are updated, and if they don’t have the right stuff, they need to be traded for the ones that do! Is our concession stand (encoder) and end zone (billing system) ready for the “big day?”

What about the coaches? What about the fans? Send out the game schedule (newsletter) and make the medical staff and mid-level providers aware of the date for the first kickoff and the CDI team’s effort to meet the changes coming this season. Don’t forget our cheerleaders (hospital administration and finance)! They need to know all the new cheers: Two MCCs, four CCs, six POAs, a MS-DRG! All for CMS updates stand up and query!

Editor’s Note: Shelia Bullock, RN, BSN, MBA, CCM, CCDS, at the time of this article's original release, was the manager of CDI services for the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, and a member of the ACDIS advisory board.