By Laurie L. Prescott, RN, MSN, CCDS, CDIP, CRC

In 1986, many of us were humming to Timbuk3’s one hit wonder, “The future is so bright—I gotta wear shades.” Well, we do have a bright future, and sunglasses always make a person look so HIP! So, slap on your shades in celebration of HIP week. March 18-24 is HIP week, honoring Health Information Professionals, whose theme proclaims, “Our Future is Bright!”

Many of ACDIS’ members wandered over to the CDI world from the HIM realm (many are coders). I often remind nurse CDI specialists that the original CDI specialists were all coders. I was hired to work in CDI within the HIM department and tell people every day I was certainly raised by a pack of coders. I would not be the CDI professional I am today without the assistance of the staff of the HIM department.

While voting hasn’t opened up just yet, ACDIS leadership wants to give members the opportunity to get to know the ACDIS Advisory Board candidates in advance.

While programs may share CDI practices, policies, and procedures, do they also share troublesome diagnoses?

by Richard Pinson, MD, FACP, CCS, and Cynthia Tang, RHIA, CCS

A newly published report from the Annals of Internal Medicine found that SIRS criteria had greater sensitivity than qSOFA as a screening test to initiate treatment for sepsis in non-ICU patients.

Over the next couple weeks, the ACDIS leadership will share some recommendations for various meeting structures, taken from the Local Chapter Leadership Toolkit, starting with monthly meetings.

Q: Could you shed some light on the codes of K66.1, retroperitoneal hematoma, an MCC, and R58, retroperitoneal hemorrhage, which is not considered a CC or an MCC? If both are documented within the same medical record, is this considered a conflict between two different diagnoses or is one considered more specific? Both are non-traumatic. Is the hematoma code more appropriate if imaging reveals no etiology of the underlying cause? 

MedPAC issued its semiannual report to Congress last week with a recommendation that lawmakers end MIPS.

Incorrect IRF claims led to $444,458 in overpayments at Memorial University Medical Center, according to a recent OIG audit report.

CMS recently announced MyHealthEData, an initiative aimed at standardizing medical record data and giving patients the ability to share it with providers.