Chief Complaint and the Medical Necessity Imperative

If there is no chief complaint, or no acute or chronic condition, auditors may not even continue with the record and negate its value altogether, according to nationally recognized coding and documentation authority Terry Fletcher, who is currently uncovering errors in an ongoing review of more than 1,000 records. During the next edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays, she will share her findings in the second of a four-part series on auditing issues in physician documentation.

Other segments to be featured on the broadcast include:

• Tuesday Focus: There’s a strong emphasis to collect data about the opioid epidemic, specifically from individuals at risk or already addicted. But what are healthcare organizations doing with this information? Lesley Kadlec with the data analytics practice council at the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) reports on how the data can be used to respond to this crisis. 
  
  
• Coder Burnout: Confessions of a formerly burned-out coder will come from Kristi Pollard, a senior coding consultant at Haugen Consulting Group, who reports on 10 strategies to keep from feeling the burn.
  
  
• Mental Health Report: Nationally renowned psychiatrist H. Steven Moffic, MD reported on new research that reveals burnout doesn’t just happen at work, but also at home. Dr. Moffic says that parental burnout can intertwine and interact with workplace burnout. 
  
  
• Talkback: Talk Ten Tuesdays co-host Erica Remer, MD returns with another installment of her popular segment.

Talk Ten Tuesdays. More than just talk.™