HCPro, JustCoding Inpatient - 2016 Issue 8 (February)
Breaking bad querying habits to increase facility productivity
February 23rd, 2016
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Article Overview
This article addresses common query-related habits in coding and clinical documentation improvement (CDI) work, with emphasis on how practice changes can improve documentation support, coder efficiency, and timely reporting. It also discusses broader documentation education efforts tied to ICD-10 and ICD-10-PCS, including query reduction through more specific physician documentation. The content is aimed at coders, CDI specialists, and facility educators or documentation leaders who want to assess whether current query templates and documentation practices still fit the ICD-10 environment.
Why This Topic Matters
Query quality affects coding workflow, documentation accuracy, and revenue flow. The article is relevant to teams looking to reduce unnecessary queries, modernize outdated habits, and improve documentation specificity across inpatient and surgical settings.
Article Sections
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Important ICD-10 changes
Discusses broad documentation and diagnosis-related changes associated with ICD-10 and how those changes can affect query practice. The section compares general coding-era differences and highlights the need to account for current diagnosis relationships.
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Avoid single indicator queries
Covers concerns about relying on limited documentation signals when preparing queries. The section emphasizes broad clinical context and additional supporting information.
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Stop using outdated queries
Reviews examples of query habits that no longer fit ICD-10-era documentation and terminology. The section focuses on keeping templates and query approaches current with the code set.
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Enhance your query template
Describes ways query templates can be strengthened to better capture clinically relevant documentation. The section includes general template improvement themes used in CDI work.
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Improving on query rates as a whole
Summarizes a facility-level education approach to reducing query volume and improving documentation specificity. The section includes a surgical documentation initiative and its relationship to ICD-10-PCS documentation needs.
What You Will Learn
- How query habits can affect CDI productivity and facility reporting
- Why ICD-10-era documentation differences matter for query development
- How to think about query specificity and supporting documentation
- Why outdated query templates can create problems in ICD-10 workflows
- How physician education can help reduce query volume
Who Should Read This
- Coders
- Clinical documentation improvement specialists
- CDI managers
- Documentation improvement educators
- Hospital revenue cycle staff
- Surgical documentation leaders
Codes Discussed
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