escalation policy

lsipos@monument.healthlsipos@monument.health
in CDI Talk Archive
Does anyone have an escalation policy you can send me ASAP for physician query non responders? Thanks!

Juli Bovard RN CCDS
Certified Clinical Documentation Specialist
Clinical Effectiveness/Clinical Quality
Rapid City Regional Hospital
719-4390 (work)
786-2677 (cell)
"No Limit to Better......"
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Comments

  • vanessa.falkoffvanessa.falkoff
    edited April 2016
    I will send you my draft - it involves having a Physician advisor- will
    that work for you? What is your

    Vanessa Falkoff RN

    Clinical Documentation Coordinator

    University Medical Center

    Las Vegas, NV

    vanessa.falkoff@umcsn.com

    office 702-383-7322

    cell 702-204-0054



    email?







  • judithbatesjudithbates
    edited April 2016
    Vaness,
    Can you share on the sight? I would love to see for reference with our program. I think this is something that is of interest in general...
    THANKS!
    Judi Bates RN BSN CCDS

  • bmurphy@hcpro.combmurphy@hcpro.com
    edited April 2016
    Hi Julie, there is an article with a sample escalation policy in the latest (just published) issue of CDI Journal, here: http://www.hcpro.com/acdis/details.cfm?topic=WS_ACD_JNL&content_id=293840

  • clemed12clemed12
    edited April 2016
    There is an escalation policy in the July 2013 ACDIS Journal.

  • idoc3idoc3
    edited April 2016
    I think that what we want to avoid here is having the “Querying Process” appear to be a disciplinary process. It is fundamental in the education of Practitioners that the emphasis is on quality of patient care through communication and documentation. And, as someone with CMO experience, I hesitate to have a process that pulls in those administrative leaders.

    What I think is absolutely essential is to have "Front Line Practitioner Champions" whether they be Physicians or NP’s or whomever. These are the specialty/department go-to folks who help with the daily documentation issues. As for coverage questions, every specialty/group has someone assigned to active clinical care and they could be the contact point as covering Practitioners.

    Also, the time frame below is at least 5 business days to get to an answer. In a model as suggested above, I think that an answer could be seen much more quickly by working with the Practitioners on the floor each day. This may all be a bit Utopian, but I have seen similar processes work with EMR implementation, etc. It is all in the communication streams amongst the active Practitioners.
    Thanks, Dr B

    With Best Regards,

    Robert Billerbeck, MD CPC
    Meditco LLC



  • vanessa.falkoffvanessa.falkoff
    edited April 2016
    We put a flag-(handwritten sticky note) in the chart on day one, and then follow up with daily phone calls x 3. The next step is a physician advisor, but that is rarely needed.
    Vanessa Falkoff RN
    Clinical Documentation Improvement Coordinator
    University Medical Center of Southern Nevada
    1800 W Charleston Blvd
    Las Vegas, NV
    vanessa.falkoff@umcsn.com
    office 702-383-7322

    Compassion * Accountability * Respect * Integrity


  • katysuegood@gmail.comkatysuegood@gmail.com
    edited April 2016
    I agree with you Robert,

    It is the physician advisor who wants to involve the CMO. I am not sure that is how the process will work but he asked me to add that to my existing draft policy. The majority of our queries are answered quickly, within 48hrs. Sometimes they are missed but following up with them directly generally resolves this. I think what our physician advisor is running into is that there are a couple of specialists consistently refuse to answer ALL queries placed. He has spoken personally with them on several occasion without any success and he is at a loss as to how to get them on board. Generally, we have great success working directly with the MD and I agree that this is a much more fluid, collaborative and efficient process.

    Thank you for your feedback,

    Katy Good, RN, BSN, CCDS, CCS
    Clinical Documentation Program Coordinator
    AHIMA Approved ICD-10CM/PCS Trainer
    Flagstaff Medical Center
    Kathryn.Good@nahealth.com
    Cell: 928.814.9404
  • Snook@fmchealth.orgSnook@fmchealth.org
    edited April 2016
    We try to get them answered while the patient is still here. But our physicians have 30 days to answer. Then if not by then their admitting privileges are suspended. We call, fax and talk with them and it rarely gets that far. But the query is part of the Medical record. All records must be completed in 30 days from discharge.

    Mary L. Snook RN-BC
    Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialist
    Fairfield Medical Center
    740-689-4443



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