Posts by Norwood Staffing
New pediatric respiratory failure white paper published for CDI specialists
By Brian Murphy Pediatric clinicians (of which I’m definitely not one, but I listen well) will frequently tell you: Children are not just little adults. That goes for clinical criteria used to diagnose pediatric conditions, and associated CDI and coding work. And in particular, respiratory failure. I was very glad to see…
Read MoreEmpathy meets AI: Rhoda Chism on Human-Machine Harmony in CDI
Listen to the complete episode here. With 23 years and counting in CDI, Rhoda Chism has seen a lot. The rise of new regulations and reimbursement mechanisms, and the advent of new technologies that have radically transformed chart reviews. Rhoda has not only weathered these changes and navigated the turbulent waters, but remains…
Read MoreAI arms race escalates battle of healthcare denials
By Brian Murphy Are we headed for a healthcare AI arms race? A hellish AI dystopia? Some days I wonder. I was reading a breathless interview with the chief technology officer of a revenue cycle management technology company. The CTO states: “Think of genAI as giving coders superpowers. It’s helping them…
Read MoreOIG audits of risk adjustment diagnoses running into familiar, repetitive roadblock—and resolution is needed
By Brian Murphy “Additionally, Humana did not agree with our audit methodology or overpayment estimation methodology.” Take the above line from the OIG’s latest audit report, remove “Humana.” Fill in the blank with another payer. The result is the same. No Medicare Advantage (MA) payer agrees with the OIG’s audit methodologies. …
Read MoreNorwood partnership allows physician group to focus on optimal patient care
A large physician group responsible for more than 175,000 lives across 300 locations doesn’t have a lot of time for self-reflection. Nor should it. Its focus is where it needs to be—providing care for a range of complex patients across more than 30 specialty services. But when it realized its quality scores and reimbursement…
Read MoreLiving in Denial(s) with Karen Elmore, BJC Healthcare
Listen to the program here. Karen Elmore is living in denial(s). Her job as Senior Clinical Documentation Quality Coordinator for BJC Healthcare involves a daily battle against a never-ending tide: Payers denying diagnoses on the perceived basis of lack of clinical support. Recently she’s had to deal not only with human payers, but…
Read MoreYet another reason to implement Annual Wellness Visits into your CDI/coding efforts
Detection of early cognitive decline the latest benefit of covered Medicare/Medicare Advantage service By Brian Murphy Medicare Annual Wellness Visits (AWVs) are an important piece of patient wellness and appropriate capture of acuity/severity of illness. But they’re also underutilized. You can now add another reason why you should be working to use them as a…
Read MoreTo broaden your perspective on work and life, keep climbing
By Justin Satterfield, CEO and Founder, Norwood My colleague and friend Clayton Simons has an uncle who climbed every “fourteener” in Colorado. These are mountains with an elevation of 14,000 feet or greater. There are 58 of them. Clayton and I plan to climb them all, too. Earlier this month we knocked off four in…
Read MoreRevka Stearns: Eight months later (and wiser)—Part 2 of 2
Listen to the recording here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/HvfKYIDsKNb We’re happy to bring you part 2 of our interview with Revka Stearns, who joined us on Off the Record to provide an update of her first eight months on the job as a new inpatient coder. If you haven’t listened to part 1 I’d recommend starting there, since…
Read MoreShould hospitals include clinical definitions in payer contracts? Hear one legal opinion
By Brian Murphy Establishing facilitywide diagnosis definitions is the gold standard for many organizations. If providers and the CDI/coding team agree on what constitutes postoperative respiratory failure for example, clinical disagreements should be greatly reduced, the need for queries lessened, and coding accuracy improved. Unfortunately, payers also (appear) to have the same leeway…
Read More