Tip: Establish a game plan for ICD-10 queries
December 20, 2012
CDI Strategies - Volume 6, Issue 27
ICD-10-CM/PCS incorporates laterality, acuity, anatomical specificity, and a slew of additional combination and complication codes. Who will submit queries when this information is missing in a medical record? Will coders or CDI specialists take on this role? Perhaps it might be a combination of the two.
Cheryl Ericson, MS, RN, CCDS, CDI-P, CDI education director at HCPro, Inc., in Danvers, Mass., says hospitals should start thinking about these questions now. Hospitals shouldn't default to unspecified codes simply because they don't have a plan for query submission. Unspecified codes lead to poor data, and they may eventually affect reimbursement, she says.
Determine which individuals will submit the following types of queries in preparation for ICD-10 and when the new coding system becomes effective in 2014.
Editor’s Note: This tip was originally published in Briefings on Coding Compliance Strategies.
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Clinical & Coding