At UASI, we pride ourselves on the quality and integrity of our employees. Here is a snapshot of a few of our wonderful Coders and CDI Consultants coming available soon that can help your facility. Kiwanis: Pro-Fee Coder Codes a variety of E/M records including: inpatient pro-fee, outpatient pro-fee, clinics and multi-specialty. Multi-specialty experience includes:… Read More »Available Talent
The coding guidelines for BMI have been revised in two areas and extensive coding advice for BMI appeared in the Fourth Quarter 2018 Coding Clinic: The revised guidelines are: B.14 Documentation by Clinicians Other than the Patient’s Provider Code assignment is based on the documentation by patient’s provider (i.e., physician or other qualified healthcare practitioner… Read More »Coding Tip of the Month – November 2018
In the CDI arena, there is an increasing focus on clinical validation – and for good reason. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2011 Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Statement of Work, “Clinical validation is a separate process [from DRG validation], which involves a clinical review of the case to see whether or not the… Read More »Expanding Clinical Validation: What Is It, and Why Is It Important?
The Third Q 2018 Coding Clinic (page 13) provided coding advice regarding a bilateral deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) flap reconstruction. The patient was status post a right mastectomy with tissue expander in place and during this procedure the patient undergoes a prophylactic left mastectomy with the bilateral DIEP. Clarification was requested on whether:… Read More »Coding Tip of the Month – October 2018
Just as many US healthcare organizations are hitting their stride in ICD-10 implementation, more changes are on the horizon. This past June, the World Health Organization (WHO) released the first complete draft of the next iteration in its International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, ICD-11. This version is very different from the… Read More »ICD-11 Is on the Horizon. Here’s How US Healthcare Organizations Should Prepare
UASI’s Tara Bell, MSN, RN, CCDS, CCM was recently interviewed for the ACDIS blog concerning the opportunities for CDI in the outpatient setting. Click here to read the full interview. Bell is slated to present “Clinical Validation: Expanding Clinical Validation into Outpatient CDI” at the ACDIS Symposium: Outpatient CDI Conference in November. A “Different Dialect:” Moving from Inpatient to Outpatient Coding In… Read More »UASI in ACDIS: “Outpatient clinical validation queries offer advanced CDI opportunities”
The annual updates to the ICD-10 and MS-DRG systems have been finalized, effective October 1. The ICD-10 and MS-DRG updates reflect the final Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule for the fiscal year 2019, published by CMS on August 6. You can see the details on IPPS here. Other highlights of the MS-DRG changes include: Grouper… Read More »UASI Training for FY2019 MS-DRG Updates
HIM directors, coding managers and healthcare leaders consistently tell us that accurate hierarchical condition category (HCC) capture, coding error prevention and compliance planning remain top-of-mind. It’s critical that provider groups broaden their understanding of these areas — especially as they pertain to outpatient settings — and address them in their clinical documentation improvement (CDI) efforts.… Read More »UASI Experts to Present “Key Steps to Successfully Implement Outpatient CDI in Physician Practice” at AHIMA 2018
Clinical documentation improvement (CDI) — particularly in outpatient settings — continues to be a top priority for US healthcare organizations as they prepare for their transition to value-based reimbursement models. Right now, there’s a tremendous amount of pressure on hospital groups to recruit top CDI talent and implement robust programs that improve patient data accuracy… Read More »UASI Experts to Present “Creating and Retaining the Best CDI Team” at AHIMA 2018
New ECMO Procedural Codes Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), also known as extracorporeal life support (ECLS), is an extracorporeal technique of providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to persons whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of gas exchange or perfusion to sustain life. The technology for ECMO is largely derived from… Read More »Coding Tip of the Month – September 2018