Posts by Norwood Staffing
Top 5 lessons learned in a year of Off the Record
Listen to the complete episode here. Here we are, at the end of the year. And the end of another season of Off the Record. For reasons that will soon become clear, I wanted to wrap up 2024 by pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Because this episode is about personal growth.…
Read MoreWhat actually passed with the new TEAM model in 2025 IPPS final rule?
By Brian Murphy What actually passed with the new TEAM model—and what does it mean for your organization? Somewhat lost amid the sea of new regulations and transmittals is CMS’ passage of a new mandatory alternative payment model called the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) in the 2025 IPPS final rule. Per…
Read MoreAI-powered coding and CDI solutions augment human beings, but do not (and cannot) replace them
By Brian Murphy Machines are a human augmenter—not a human replacement. I love the way my recent Off the Record podcast guest Rhoda Chism frames technology in her CDI practice. As an amplifier, extending her reach and allowing her to touch more patients, but not a substitute for her unique skillset. Two…
Read MoreMake the new CMS quality measure Thirty-Day Risk Standardized Death Rate a major priority in your CDI, coding efforts
By Brian Murphy Among the many ethical challenges CDI professionals face is pressure to make their organizations and/or providers look better on paper, through elimination of diagnoses that might trigger a patient safety indicator (PSI) or other quality measure. In some organizations the pressure to improve quality scores is stronger than CC/MCC/HCC capture. …
Read MoreUniversity of Colorado Health $23M settlement a red flag for over-reliance on automated coding
By Jason Jobes FALSE CLAIMS ALERT: University of Colorado Health has agreed to pay the United States $23M for false claims tied to E/M levels billed for emergency department services. At its core technology makes good—or bad—processes move faster. Thanks for taking time to read this post. If you find this valuable, please send…
Read MoreHCC coding compliance Q&A
Norwood hosted a webinar on Nov. 12, Navigating Regulatory Waters in Risk Adjustment: The OIG, False Claims Act, and HCC Findings.” During the show we got several excellent comments in the Q&A chat. Below is an excerpted and lightly edited transcription. You can view an on-demand recording of the full program here: https://my.demio.com/ref/o0WT9l8jMiof0v8L Question: We…
Read MoreUpcoding, AI, audits, ICD-11 all keeping medical coders up at night, according to HIM survey
By Brian Murphy What’s keeping medical coders up at night? Besides a Halloween hangover of too many scary movies and candy? Topping the list are upcoding pressures, artificial intelligence, audits, value-based care coding, and ICD-11 (yikes—scary). Thanks to Becker’s Hospital Review for offering up this helpful summary of an Oct. 18 survey…
Read MoreFall reflections: Nicole Fox on career evolution, saboteurs, and fulfillment
Listen to the episode here. Last month I wrote a post about the four stages of a career, using the analogy of seasons. I was inspired by the wonderful fall weather I was experiencing while on a walk here in New England, but also by changes I have been experiencing in my life and…
Read MoreBack from Camp Norwood, grateful and recharged
By Brian Murphy Do you remember those camping trips you took when you were a kid? Sleeping in tents, cold and uncomfortable, and maybe a little sad to be so far from home? Camp Norwood was … not any of that. Except for far from home (at least for those of us who…
Read MoreEight frequently misdiagnosed conditions can be rectified with good CDI, coding practices
By Brian Murphy What conditions are most frequently misdiagnosed, leading to patient harm? A study by the general internal medicine team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston (yay, my backyard! No Harvard jokes please) found that 1 in 14 general medicine patients (7%) experience harm from diagnostic errors.…
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