Though many coders and auditors say so, there is no official direction that states diagnoses can only be reported if they’re included in the discharge summary. We teach in our CDI Boot Camps that, although it’s desirable if the...Read More »
Those who’ve been in CDI long enough remember the days of colored paper queries slipped into charts. Often, those queries would get lost in the literal shuffle, or simply go unanswered and ignored with no concrete way of tracking the query. Then, electronic health records (EHR) came on the scene...Read More »
Editor’s note: Cesar M. Limjoco, MD, and Kelli A. Estes, RN, CCDS, will be presenting “The ultimate test for queries,” on Day 1 of the ACDIS conference. Limjoco is the vice president of DCBA, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana....Read More »
The use of electronic health records (EHR) should be guided by ethical principles that put patient care at the forefront, according to a position paper published by the American College of Physicians (ACP). EHRs can be an...Read More »
Q: Lately, we have been receiving responses of “did not assess or treat” or “this is a chronic stable medical problem not associated with the patient’s presentation,” although the nutritional assessment such as severe malnutrition is...Read More »
Q: If a consulting physician documents a diagnosis related to his or her specialty but the attending does not (instead simply documenting, “thank you for your assistance”) can the consulting physician’s documentation be used for coding purposes? My most experienced associate says we can...Read More »
