Q: We are getting a number of patients who are admitted for a three-day inpatient stay for tikosyn-loading due to atrial fibrillation (a fib). The DRG weight is very low for these patients, whose diagnosis is usually chronic or persistent a fib. I am wondering if there is any...Read More »
Q: I have a patient with alcohol-induced pancreatitis. In this case, the documentation notes a lactate level of 2.9 mmol/L with acute kidney injury (AKI). I have always learned that systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is defined as two or more of the following...Read More »
Q: I have a question about coding “unspecified” versus “other specified,” as to whether schizophrenia, multiple episodes, acute exacerbation, is coded as schizophrenia, unspecified. The new ICD-10-CM/PCS Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting do not explain whether paranoid,...Read More »
At this time last year, many CDI specialists, providers, and coders worried about the arrival of ICD-10; some spoke of doomsday scenarios with mountains of claim denials and delayed payments. One year later, the debut of ICD-10 is earning widespread comparisons to Y2K, the turn-of-the-century...Read More »
Q:I’m having problems determining the correct coding guidelines for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pneumonia. Have the guidelines changed regarding COPD and pneumonia? Do you now have to code the pneumonia as a COPD with a lower respiratory infection...Read More »
The long-anticipated ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting for fiscal year 2017 were released earlier this month, and include a definition for Exclude 1 notes, guidance for meaning and application of the word “with,” and clarification for laterality, according to an...Read More »
For 27.3% of patients with depression and 27.7% of patients with bipolar disorder, providers did not integrate their diagnosis into their primary care electronic health record (EHR), according to a study published in the April 2016 Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.Read More »
Q: On pages 139-140 of the 2016 CDI Pocket Guide, the guidance states that code J95.82 should not be assigned when post procedural respiratory failure is attributed by the provider to a preexisting or other underlying condition. It seems like this statement contradicts...Read More »
