News
State of the CDI profession? Never brighter
Download our complementary special report Here at Norwood we’re excited about the state of the CDI profession. Are you? We hope so—and you should be. The numbers paint a pretty positive picture. In this complementary special report we summarize the interesting and varied work available to CDI professionals, compensation trends (headed upwards), tech…
Read MoreCodes, codes, and more codes: New FY 2024 ICD-10-CM, ICD-10-PCS codes hit the encoder
June was a big month if you have anything to do with medical coding. Codes, codes, and more codes—both additions, deletions, and code title revisions. On Friday June 16 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the FY 2024 ICD-10-CM (diagnosis) codes updates. That came hard on the heels of the release of…
Read MoreAHA pushes back on CMS IPPS quality proposals including SEP-1, HAC Reduction Program
By Brian Murphy As we sit in the waiting period between the IPPS proposed rule and the final rule (likely out in August), I took a look at the American Hospital Association’s comments. So that you didn’t have to. Link below. As a reminder CMS welcomes public comments as part of its rulemaking process. In…
Read MoreAnalysis of 17 OIG reports reveals compliance blueprints for Medicare Advantage and provider organizations
Part 1 of an ongoing series By Jason Jobes Today I am starting a series on my analysis of the 17 Medicare Advantage OIG reviews released from 2022-2023. Given the rule released on extrapolation earlier this year hopefully we can use some of the findings to springboard improvement. Thanks for reading. If you find this…
Read MoreOne EPIC Nation. Is it Coming?
By Brian Murphy There appears to be an inevitable march toward one giant dominating the healthcare industry. An EPIC win in the EHR industry, you might say. If so, what does this mean for healthcare? With all due respect to AthenaHealth, Meditech, Oracle/Cerner, etc., EPIC is the 800-pound gorilla of EHRs and shows no sign…
Read MoreHow do you handle “unable to determine” query responses?
By Brian Murphy Unable to determine. Love it? Hate it? Or do you understand why it must (usually) be offered as a query option? The latest ACDIS-AHIMA guidance, Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant Query Practice, imply that “unable to determine” should typically (but crucially, not always) be offered to the physician in a traditional multiple-choice…
Read MoreMajor Depressive Disorder: Report accurately, and shore up the medical record against denial
By Brian Murphy Large caveat to the following: I am not a clinician, nor a coder, though my work frequently brushes up to clinical coding. I was having a recent conversation with my colleague Jason Jobes for an upcoming episode of Off the Record, during which we touched on OIG audits of HCCs and unsupported…
Read MoreForeign Medical Graduates: Finding a Clinical Calling, and a Career, Through CDI
By Brian Murphy Sulaiman Rasheed (“King Solomon,” or “Sully,” as his colleagues call him) took the long way to CDI. Literally and figuratively. A native of Pakistan, Rasheed is a graduate of Gandhara Medical University. He once dreamed of being a doctor. Today he has realized a dream he never knew he had—CDI professional. Rasheed…
Read MoreStruggling to land a job? Learn and avoid these common reasons for rejection
By Celeste Austin, Business Development Manager, Norwood Are you on the job market but struggling to land a job—even after what seems like an eternity? If you get a vague rejection after an interview, there’s always a valid reason behind it that your recruiter may not be able to share in detail—either out of respect…
Read MoreShore up the medical record and your hospital with these denials-busting documentation strategies
By Brian Murphy If you’re a CDI specialist these days, odds are you will be involved in denials. According to the 2022 ACDIS Industry Overview Survey released in February, 68% of respondents indicated that they were involved in the denials or appeals process—10% higher than in 2021 (1). We wanted to get some tips and…
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