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CMW Tip of the Week: Clearing up concurrent coding

Case Management Weekly, July 16, 2008

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This week’s tip is an ask the expert with a question provided by Case Management Weekly reader Josie McKorkle from Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, MS. The answer is provided by Carol Everhart, RN, BA, the director of clinical informatics at Curaspan Healthgroup, Inc.

Q: Could you tell me if you are seeing a trend where case managers’ duties include coding the medical record concurrently during a patient’s hospitalization?

A: In my opinion and based on my experiences during the last nine years in case management, I am not seeing a trend of adding concurrent coding to the role of case management. Instead, I’m seeing the addition of the role of documentation specialist that includes coding functionality to the department of case management. 

I have also seen a trend during the last several years of adding concurrent coders to certain service lines. Additionally, I’ve seen the responsibility of determining the “working DRG” as part of the case management role, which would be different than concurrent coding.

Have a question for our experts? Email it to editor jmcginley@hcpro.com.Your question could be featured in the next issue of Case Management Weekly!

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