Case Management

CMW Mentor moment: HACs set for October 1; are you ready?

Case Management Weekly, September 23, 2009

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Editor’s Note: This blog was originally posted by Melissa Varnavas, CPC, associate director of the Association for Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS) on the organization’s blog.

When a hospital-acquired-condition (HAC) is not present on admission (POA), and it is the only complication/comorbidity (CC) or major CC (MCC) on the claim, the case will group to a lower-weighted Medicare Severity DRG (MS-DRG). The result is less reimbursement for your hospital.

“It could have a financial impact on the hospital’s bottom line,” says DeAnne W. Bloomquist, RHIT, CCS, a coding and compliance consultant and the president of Mid-Continent Coding, Inc., in Overland Park, KS.

The following eight HAC conditions become effective October 1.

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