Health Information Management

Best practice: The value of a real-time, concurrent review

CDI Strategies, October 18, 2007

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Physicians prefer to be queried concurrently (real-time, not after the record is complete and the patient is discharged), says William Haik, MD, director of DRG Review, Inc., in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, a physician himself.

"From my perspective as a doctor, it's (concurrent medical record review) a lot easier than having to go back and re-visit a situation," he says. "For us as doctors, when I'm on rounds and have to take care of a patient, everything is very real-time. And when I'm done with it, I'm on to the next problem."

On the other hand, if a CDI specialist has to query the physician four days after he or she sees a patient, the odds of the physician clarifying a nonspecific diagnosis are rather slim. "I'm on to the next problem by then, and if a [CDI specialist] asks me about a problem from four days ago, my mind is not there," Haik says. "Not only is it aggravating, but it's disconcerting to have to retrieve old information."



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