The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) measures and, in some cases, penalizes facilities whose inpatient mortality or readmission (up to 3 per cent of their traditional Medicare revenue) rates for pneumonia, heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and other conditions exceed their established benchmarks. 

Since these measures are based solely on ICD-10-CM/PCS-based administrative data applied to algorithms developed by Yale University, inaccurate documentation and coding can unwittingly misrepresent a facility’s excellent performance resulting in underserved underpayments.  

During the next live edition of the long-running Internet broadcast, Talk Ten Tuesday, Dr. James S. Kennedy, president of CDIMD in Nashville, Tenn., will present five relatively simple CDI strategies involving the CMS mortality and readmission measures that, if implemented, will more accurately reflect your facility’s excellent performance and lower or eliminate undeserved penalties.  Be sure to take notes and invite your colleagues from quality to listen as well.

Also part of the broadcast will be these instantly recognizable panelists, who will report more news during their segments:

• Social Determinants of Health: Tiffany Ferguson, CEO for Phoenix Medical Management, Inc., will report on the news that is happening at the intersection of medical record auditing and the SDoH.
• The Coding Report: Christine Geiger, Assistant Vice President of Acute and Post-Acute Coding Services for First Class Solutions, will report on the latest coding news.
  
  
• News Desk: Timothy Powell, ICD10monitor national correspondent and regulatory expert, will anchor the Talk Ten Tuesdays News Desk.
  
  
• TalkBack: Erica Remer, MD, founder and president of Erica Remer, MD, Inc., and Talk Ten Tuesdays co-host, will report on a subject that has caught her attention.