Posts by Norwood Staffing
Try a “yes, and” approach when changing provider documentation habits
I love this “yes, and” approach recommended by my current Off the Record podcast guest, Kalee Vincent. Many physicians prefer (and need, for quality reporting purposes) the New York Heart Association (NYHA) Classification for their heart failure patients, for example. But CDI needs acuity and type to satisfy hospital coding and billing. Instead…
Read MorePayers turning to clinical validation to ignore coding guidelines, deny claims
By Brian Murphy Clinical validation audits are on the rise and among the chief causes of claims denials, per my current Off the Record podcast guest Richelle Marting, JD, MHSA, RHIA, CPC, CEMC, CPMA, CPC-I. While denials are payer-agnostic, Marting says that Medicare Advantage Organizations have risen to the top of worst offenders.…
Read MoreNo one will hire a CPC-A, or a coder without experience? Think again
By Brian Murphy “Nobody will hire a CPC-A.” “Nobody will hire without experience.” My recent guest on Off the Record, Revka Stearns, describes these oft-expressed statements as not factual. And rightly so. If they were, no one new would ever be hired. Which of course cannot be the case, and is not…
Read MoreClinical (and career) validation: Richelle Marting on legal aspects of HIM, CDI
Listen to the episode: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/FV3hTItIZJb Earning your RHIA (Registered Health Information Administrator) is a huge accomplishment, and for some marks the end of a four-year academic journey and an entry into HIM. For Richelle Marting, it was only the beginning. In pursuit of her RHIA, which she eventually earned, my guest on today’s episode took…
Read MoreHCC Best Practice Advisory (BPA) Alerts a Hot Topic in Compliant Condition Capture
By Jason Jobes, SVP, Norwood Solutions HOT TOPIC QUESTION: Are you using Epic HCC BPAs (or similar tools) and are you worried about their appropriateness or compliance? DISCLOSURE: Norwood does not possess/sell any technology that competes with use of the Epic BPA or currently partner with organizations that have similar functionality. This question is aimed…
Read MoreClean Up Your Problem Lists to Facilitate Accurate Coding
By Brian Murphy Per CMS, a problem list is “a list of current and active diagnoses as well as past diagnoses relevant to the current care of the patient.” But they’re often much more. Physicians use them as a place to think in ink about ongoing and active conditions or store other summarized patient data. …
Read MoreBattle over Sepsis-2 vs. Sepsis-3 Heating Up
By Brian Murphy The battle over Sepsis-2 vs. Sepsis-3 continues. Advocates of Sepsis-3 state that it offers a more clinically accurate and rigorous definition, and that sepsis-2 is too vague to be truly useful. Advocates of Sepsis-2 believe that it’s more sensitive and superior for early detection, and sepsis-3 too high a bar to capture…
Read MoreBreaking into CDI as a Foreign Medical Graduate: Eight Strategies for Success
By Brian Murphy Foreign medical graduates (FMG) can make for wonderful CDI professionals—but breaking into the profession poses a unique challenge. Many FMGs emigrate to the U.S. to pursue a career in medicine, but are faced with long odds (30,000 applications for 7000-8000 open residency slots, per one data point I found) and defer that…
Read MoreBack to Documentation School: Lessons from CDI Educator Kalee Vincent
Listen to the full episode here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/AzfGTtkICJb One of the more promising developments I’ve seen over my career watching the CDI profession bloom is the creation of the CDI educator role. CDI is often labeled by its critics as reactive, sending queries to the provider after he or she has already documented in the chart.…
Read MoreHIV Infections and Principal Diagnosis Selection
By Joanne Wilson, RN, ASN, CCDS, Senior Director, Solutions, Norwood This article marks the beginning of a learning mini-series to address conditions commonly needing clarification for novice and expert CDI staff. We hope you enjoy them! Joanne welcomes your questions or comments at joanne@norwood.com. The first topic in this miniseries is Human Immunodeficiency Disease (HIV) infections.…
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