Podcast

Between MS-DRGs, HCCs, U.S. News and World Report rankings, Leapfrog, readmissions, mortalities, Vizient or Premier performance, and on and on, how does a CDI program know where to focus its record reviews? The choices seem bewildering.   My current guest on Off the Record Leif Laframboise has settled on present on admission (POA) as the…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Listen to the episode here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/EBiWUwjOmNb Back in January I hosted newly minted medical coder Revka Stearns. For someone so new to the industry, Revka has made a big impact by the act of sharing–documenting her journey in detailed and open fashion on LinkedIn and Facebook, and a half dozen podcasts and programs. At the…

Listen to the episode here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/c6FFYxoXZMb    With 25 years’ experience in medical/surgical, critical care, and emergency department medicine, Tonya Motsinger has seen her share of crises.  COVID-19 was a crisis of a far larger scale. The pandemic wreaked havoc not only on patients, but her CDI department, resulting in staff shortages. Today OhioHealth’s System…

Listen to the episode here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/n2tsZSPmCMb Bridging the gap between clinical and financial worlds is the goal of CDI and coding, but it’s much easier said than done. One way to reconcile this schism is through data—objective numbers that don’t lie, but can speak to both sides of this seemingly irreconcilable chasm. Associate Director of…

Listen to the episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6I6v7JrBwt8Xf73RfWmBGF?si=cHXeDeKeSWiZoyLfyoh5Ag Robin Jones moved to Florida at the tail end of 2017 to pursue a burgeoning career in CDI. And ever since has done nothing but climb the professional ladder. Leaving behind her home in Cincinatti Ohio and a decorated career in CDI at Mercy Health, Robin started over as…

Listen to the program here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/K75pfH3WTLb  Our two-part “Podcast on the Pirogue” miniseries concludes in this installment of Off the Record, recorded live in the backwoods of Pierre Part, Louisiana.  Here I wrest back my traditional host seat (after the takeover in part 1) and interview Jason Jobes, Senior Vice President of Solutions at Norwood,…