I received an interesting question recently from someone contemplating Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist (CCDS) certification. She asked:

"I am wondering whether obtaining the certification gives the CCDS holders any special privileges? Are they able to perform duties that they otherwise would not be able to if they did not hold the certification (not by knowledge, but by law)?"

Local chapter leaders from all over the country showed their ACDIS pride on Day 2 of the national conference in Las Vegas last week. (Read more about them in the special conference daily.)

Diane Smith, RN, CCDS, a member of the Maine ACDIS Chapter, works at Pen Bay Medical Center in beautiful Rockport. A Connecticut native, she moved to Michigan but found she missed the east coast. On a trip to Maine she fell in love with the beauty of the area and the food. She talked her husband Mark into making the move in 2002 and over time, talked each of her three children to follow with their families.

Q: Some CDI specialists tell physicians not to document acute renal insufficiency because it does not code to acute renal failure and I am wondering if that is considered appropriate.

by Ghazal Irfan, RHIA

An excisional debridement of the skin or subcutaneous tissue is the surgical removal or cutting away of such tissue, necrosis, or slough and is classified to the root operation Excision. Excisional debridement involves the use of a scalpel to remove devitalized tissue. According to AHA Coding Clinic for ICD-10-CM/PCS, Third Quarter 2015, p. 3: