By Sharme Brodie, RN, CCDS

Last week, I was working remotely at home and decided to take a break from working on PowerPoint presentations and catch up on some of the reading I’d put off during the holidays.

I listened to a webinar about the 2018 changes to MACRA and read two articles about CMS’ changes related to total knee replacements. As I was self-educating, I started thinking about the people who don’t have the luxury of devoting a whole day to research. With all the changes that have taken place over the last few years—switching to ICD-10, Coding Clinic publications paging in at over 35-40 pages long, extremely long final rules, to name a few—I honestly don’t know how anyone keeps up.

What happens when your CDI program is struggling and can’t seem to right itself? 26% of respondents to the January 31 ACDIS Radio poll restarted their CDI program in the past.

The early bird discount isn’t the only way you can save money on your conference ticket.

We received a question from an ACDIS local chapter leader regarding providing CCDS CEUs for events conducted by local chapters for components of other organizations, such as local components of AHIMA.

While advanced CDI programs have a lot to offer facilities in moving beyond CC/MCC capture, program leaders need to be mindful of staff productivity, effectiveness, query efficacy, and burnout.

CMS has released their latest impact report for quality measures, showing a decrease in heart attack mortality, unplanned readmissions, and uncontrolled diabetes.

A recent study by JAMA found that roughly 25% of healthcare dollars are used for the administrative billing process, not patient care. 

Q: I have a patient with a UTI with pyuria and an elevated WBC count. There’s also recurrent plugging of the urine catheter secondary to sediment. I know the term “with” can link two diagnoses, but that it does not represent a cause-and-effect relationship. Is a query needed in this particular case to link the UTI and Foley catheter?

The World Health Organization is preparing for the official release of the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases, or ICD-11, in June.