Q: Since Acute Renal Failure (ARF) is no longer a MCC (as of October 1, 2010). I would like some input on how facilities have coped with the change. Do you just code ARF, or have you started querying physicians for more specific information such as documentation for acute...Read More »
Q: Some physicians are uncomfortable making addendums to the discharge summary to include the pathological findings (e.g., malignancy). Instead, they dictate a tumor board note to summarize the course of treatment and final pathological diagnosis. However, the tumor board note is usually dated...Read More »
Q: Confession. I am very frustrated. I am fairly new to CDI. I have a nursing background. I’m trying to understand how the coding and DRG system works. But when I look up a diagnosis in the DRG Expert in the alphabetic index to diseases it is not listed as I would expect it to be....Read More »
Q: How should I query for systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) if SIRS codes to sepsis? I want to correctly query and obtain the proper supporting information in the medical record in the event of an audit. Any discussion on this topic is appreciated.Read More »
Q: Our small hospital has decided at this time that they no longer need the services of a Physician Advisor (PA). He will only be here another sixty days. Can you tell me from your perspective why a hospital should have a PA?Read More »
Q: Are there any coding guidelines/definitions regarding code 518.5 (Pulmonary insufficiency following trauma and surgery) vs. the use of 518.81 (Acute respiratory failure postop)? If a physician documents postop respiratory failure, which code should we report? I looked in Coding Clinic...Read More »
Q: Our physician provided an illegible diagnosis of malnutrition, and when we queried him regarding the specific type of malnutrition, he provided protein malnutrition. The ICD-9-CMCoding Manual directs us to assign code 260;...Read More »
