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Clinical Documentation Improvement Boot Camp

Course Outline

Day 1
Overview of Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI)

  • What is CDI?
  • Who is the clinical documentation specialist (CDS)?
  • What is the role of the CDS?

Inpatient Prospective Payment System and MS-DRGs

  • Overview of the Medicare system
    • Key terminology
  • What is an MS-DRG?
  • How is the DRG assigned?
    • Principal diagnosis
    • Complications/comorbidities (CCs) & major CCs
    • Principal procedure
  • Case-mix index (CMI)
    • Relative weight
    • Blended rate
    • How is CMI calculated?
    • Why does CMI matter?

Getting to Know DRG Expert, Official ICD-9-CM Coding Guidelines and Coding Clinic

  • Major Diagnostic Categories (MDC)
  • Medical v. surgical DRGs
  • ICD-9-CM codes
  • Alpha and numeric indexes
  • Selection of principal diagnosis
  • Reporting of secondary diagnoses
  • Present on admission/hospital-acquired conditions
  • Whose documentation counts?
  • Sample exercises

Focused Physiology/Pharmacology/Disease Processes Infectious Diseases (MDC 18)

  • Clinical signs and symptoms
    • SIRS/sepsis/severe sepsis/septic shock
    • Postoperative and posttraumatic infections
    • Fever of unknown origin
  • Coding Clinic guidelines
  • Clinical case scenarios

DAY TWO
Diseases of the Respiratory System (MDC 4)

  • Clinical signs and symptoms
    • COPD
    • Simple pneumonia v. "complex pneumonia"
    • Aspiration pneumonia
    • Respiratory failure
    • Mechanical ventilators
  • Coding Clinic guidelines
  • Clinical case scenarios

Diseases of the Cardiovascular System (MDC 5)

  • Clinical signs and symptoms
    • Chest pain/Angina/CAD
    • Congestive heart failure
    • Acute myocardial infarction
    • Cardiac catheterizations
    • PTCA and other cardiac procedures
  • Coding Clinic guidelines
  • Clinical case scenarios

Diseases of the Digestive and Hepatobiliary System (MDCs 6, 7)

  • Clinical signs and symptoms
  • Major esophageal disorders
  • Neoplasms
  • Esophagitis, gastritis
  • GI bleeds
  • Blood loss anemia
  • Cirrhosis and hepatitis
  • Coding Clinic guidelines
  • Clinical case scenarios

Diseases of the Urinary System (MDC 11)

  • Clinical signs and symptoms
    • Acute renal failure/acute kidney injury
    • Chronic kidney disease
    • Urosepsis v. UTI
    • UTI and sepsis/SIRS related to indwelling catheter
    • Diabetic renal manifestations
    • Admission for dialysis
  • Coding Clinic guidelines
  • Clinical case scenarios

Day 3
Diseases of the Endocrine System and Nutritional Disorders (MDC 10)

  • Clinical signs and symptoms
    • DM Type I and II
    • Complications of DM
    • Dehydration and malnutrition
    • Electrolyte imbalances
    • Common CC's in this MDC
    • Endocrine Dx
  • Coding Clinic guidelines
  • Clinical case scenarios

Diseases of the Neuro System (MDC 1)

  • Clinical signs and symptoms
    • TIA v. CVA
    • Seizures vs. epilepsy
    • Diabetic manifestations
    • Carotid artery procedures
  • Coding Clinic guidelines
  • Clinical case scenarios

Diseases of the Skin (MDC 9)

  • Clinical signs and symptoms
    • Pressure ulcers
    • Excisional debridements
  • Coding Clinic guidelines
  • Clinical case scenarios

Other Diseases

  • Clinical signs and symptoms
    • HIV disease
    • Obesity and BMI
    • Anemias
    • Injuries and poisonings
    • Multiple significant trauma
    • Myeloproliferative diseases and neoplasms
    • Symptoms
  • Coding Clinic guidelines
  • Clinical case scenarios

Day 4
Developing Communication Skills with Physicians/Ancillary Staff

  • Teaching physicians "what's in it for them"
  • CDI and its effect on physician profiles and E/M payments

Reviewing the Medical Record

  • Finding clinical support for queries
  • Developing a system for thorough review
    • Frequency of review
    • Emergency room notes
    • Progress notes/operative reports/dictation
    • Non-physician/ancillary documentation

Constructing Physician Queries

  • What is a query?
  • AHIMA guidelines
  • Written v. verbal query processes
  • Concurrent v. retrospective queries
  • Present on admission queries
  • Use of standardized query templates and clinical indicators
  • How to track query response

Measuring the Success of a CDI Program

  • What to measure-analysis and objectives
  • CMI v. performance
  • Severity of illness/risk of mortality
  • Performance tracking and trending your performance by
    • Program
    • Physician
    • Hospital department
    • CDI specialist

Professionalism, Ethics and Compliance

  • RAC program
    • Integrating CDI with RAC defense
    • Denials and CDI response
  • OIG audits
    • Case examples and questions
  • CDI program compliance

*Agenda subject to change

You'll also receive supplemental materials including sample query forms and policies you can take back to your facility and use right away.



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