Tips to help improve physician queries
HIM-HIPAA Insider, April 5, 2011
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIM-HIPAA Insider!
Physician queries are a predictable part of any coder's job. Coders may pose hundreds—even thousands—of queries throughout their careers. One thing remains constant; there's always room for improvement. How can coders write more effective queries and essentially get more bang for their buck?
- Keep it short and sweet. "I think what grabs a physician's attention is a query that's clear, fact-based, and direct," says Gail B. Marini, RN, MM, CCS, LNC, manager of clinical documentation at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, MA. "I think when it gets wordy, or it looks as though there's a paragraph to read, the query is often ignored."
- Make it obvious. Queries should be easy to identify (e.g., use colored paper rather than white paper) and should clearly reference a tab in the record that points to the exact progress note and date for which the query is relevant, says Marini.
- Send follow-up e-mail. "My staff members e-mail physicians anytime they enter a query on the chart. This seems to work reasonably well," says Jean Stone, RHIT, CCS, coding manager at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, CA.
Editor’s note: To read more, access this article in the April issue of Briefings on Coding Compliance Strategies.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIM-HIPAA Insider!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- Know the medical gas cylinder storage requirements
- Steps for maintaining patient privacy
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- The consequences of an incomplete medical record
- Tip of the week: Overcoming language barriers with ESL staff members
- Nursing responsibilities for managing pain
- Differentiate between types of wound debridement
- Prevent dehydration with nursing interventions
- E-mailed
-
- Understand how to report services during the global period for minor surgeries
- Q: What is a condition-level survey deficiency?
- Q&A: H&P for patients undergoing moderate or deep sedation?
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Know the medical gas cylinder storage requirements
- Include respiratory therapists in discharge planning when appropriate
- Helping Charge Nurses understand their leadership role (Part 2 of 3)
- FDA says to decrease reuse of devices, CMS removes some blanket waivers
- Coronavirus pandemic stressors impacting careers of healthcare workers
- Coding Clinic for CDI:Reassessing debridement documentation
- Searched