News: Decline in pneumonia mortality may be due to shift in documentation and coding
CDI Strategies, April 12, 2012
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to CDI Strategies!
Just because hospitalizations and inpatient admissions due to pneumonia declined from 2003 to 2009, that doesn’t mean the U.S. population is healthier overall. In fact, according to a study released in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) last week, as pneumonia cases declined hospitalizations for patients with a principal diagnosis of sepsis and respiratory failure and secondary diagnosis of pneumonia rose.
When the three pneumonia-related diagnoses were combined the decline in the inpatient mortality was little changed. The study authors say this suggests the results are associated with “temporal trends in diagnostic coding."
The study authors suggest that such shifts could adversely affect outcomes measurements and long-term health studies as the bulk of pneumonia cases classified as the principal diagnosis reflects less severe cases than previously. Pneumonia accounts for more than a million hospital admissions resulting in more than $10 billion in associated costs, according to a JAMA release.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to CDI Strategies!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- The consequences of an incomplete medical record
- Nursing responsibilities for managing pain
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- Prevent dehydration with nursing interventions
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Steps for maintaining patient privacy
- Q&A: Primary, principal, and secondary diagnoses
- Know the medical gas cylinder storage requirements
- Neurological checks for head injuries
- E-mailed
- Searched