CMS has been making it clear over the years that packaging would become a larger and larger part of OPPS, and in calendar year (CY) 2014 CMS made good on this.
Coders are aware that ICD-10-CM will allow much more specificity than ICD-9-CM, and that is very evident in the section covering injuries to the wrist, hand, and fingers (S60–S69).
We are four months into the new fiscal year and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has finally released its highly anticipated Work Plan. Click the link above for more information and an in-depth analysis.
On January 31, CMS announced on its Inpatient Hospital Reviews website that it extended the probe and educate period for implementation of the 2-midnight benchmark through September 30, 2014. Along with the announcement of the extension, it also released an updated version of the guidance documents on inpatient hospital reviews and on the new order and certification requirements. Click the link above for more information and an in-depth analysis.
Communication is a major portion of the documentation and coding conundrum. Creating avenues for information exchange with the physician community is essential to the success of clinical documentation improvement (CDI) and the capture of coded data. Physicians take a variety of courses (e.g., pathology, physiology, disease manifestations, etiology, and process) throughout their academic medical education. However, their education does not address the importance or the details of documenting medical terminology with specific information that corresponds to ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes. Physician profiles and scorecards have been linked to ICD-9-CM codes; physician awareness of this and future linkage to ICD-10 is necessary.
