Thursday Jul 21, 2022

The impact of conservative coding – Part 1

“If that physician documentation isn't there to support how sick that patient really is, number one, the hospital's reimbursement will suffer. But number two, the physician will appear that they're treating healthier patients than they actually are.” This quote from our guest on today’s Modern Practice highlights the fact that conservative coding or defensive coding can be costly. On this episode of our award-winning podcast, we’ll discuss how to code correctly to provide a true picture of patient severity, leading to better data and reimbursement.

Guest speaker:
Jim Tamburini, BS, RHIT, CCS, CCS-P, CDIP
Senior Consulting Director
Vizient

Moderator:
Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM
Principal
Clinical Operations and Quality
Vizient

Show Notes:

[01:13] Importance of physician documentation

[02:00] Coded data needed to show severity of patient condition

[03:00] Role of coding professional

[04:27] Communicating in the medical record decides perception and reimbursement

[07:37] Denials fuel defensive coding

[08:29] Impact of conservative coding

[09:57] Correcting a coding entry

[12:30] Vizient’s robust education and mentoring program for coding

[14:04] Where to start changing defensive coding practices