Hospitalist groups and Query rate
1) How many of you have a Hospitalist group in your hospital and are they held accountable for answering queries.
2) Do you use your Query rate as a yearly goal to be met and what is that percentage set at?
3) What are your queries targeted for---$$, Severity, compliance
2) Do you use your Query rate as a yearly goal to be met and what is that percentage set at?
3) What are your queries targeted for---$$, Severity, compliance
Comments
compliance and gets called every morning at their team meeting with any
queries.
We do have a yearly goal for the docspecs. It is 90% at this time. We
are usually over that.
Queries are targeted for mostly for $ and compliance mostly and soi on
floors which have lower opportunity for $$ such as surgeries that only
take an mcc.
opportunities.
If we have time we will query for documentation only. Sometimes we may
combine both into a Query - i.e. a Query for Ac Renal Failure with a tag
of Heart Failure specification.
Norma T. Brunson, RHIA
Clinical Documentation Specialist
Bay Medical Center
1. Yes we have hospitalist. If there is a pattern identified our phys. Champion is alerted and will be discussed.
2. No
3. clarifications are targeted for $$, MCC, CC, education, and consistency of the documentation. severity of illness could be done more effectively with software designed for CDI.
Carla A. Heyn, RHIT, BS
Clinical Documentation Specialist
Elliot Hospital
One Elliot Way
Manchester, NH 03103
603-663-3452
cheyn@Elliot-HS.org
Our current goal is 30-45% of cases reviewed.
I query only for clarification, specificity and documentation completeness.
Charlene
The primary responsibility for answering queries at our facility lies on residents, fellows. PAs and NPs.
Our attendings, hospitalists may answer a query, though.
Our query rate runs at 20% or greater right now.
We query for diagnosis clarification across the board. We don't usually query for diagnosis such as hypo/hyperkalemia, mg, phos. We may not always query for Anemia of chronic disease - it depends on the case.
We were querying for everything and I mean everything. It was not a good use of our time. There are only 3 of us for a 500+ bed facility. We were spending so much time on queries and f/u to queries that we were not able to get our concurrent reviews done.
What is the size of your hospital? How many cases do you typically
review each day?
Adrienne Baker, RN
Documentation Specialist
212-5245
212-9575 (pager)
I average about 18 charts/day with 6-7 being new and 10-12 or so f/u's.
Queries on average are 5-6/day.
When the total queries are tallied it is number of queries and number of new cases reviewed.
Charlene
We do not have a Query Goal. As we review our admissions - if there is an opportunity, we Query. I average around 10 admissions a day - of the 10 I review I query around 6 of them. Some days I have no Queries! (rare) And some days I end up querying for specificity of symptoms - I work a Neuro-Ortho floor so I get many Syncope, Vertigo, AMS, Malaise and Fatigue (GRR!).
Our Priority is to Query for $$. If I have time I will Query for compliance, severity/medical necessity. Sometimes I will combine two Queries - one may be for $$ the other for specificity or severity.
to answer queries. Their documentation is the best in the hospital
thanks to their billing person and classes they go to, so we rarely need
to query them.
We have several goals - physicians have a 75% response rate goal (rarely
met by any), CDS' have a 75% agree rate, and we are always over -
average about 90%. Our query rate is supposed to be about 40% - I only
query if I feel it's necessary and try not to over-query.
No specific target for our queries - reimbursement, severity and clarity
are our goals.
Stacey Forgensi, RN, CCRN, CCDS
Clinical Documentation Specialist
Erie County Medical Center
sforgens@ecmc.edu
Pager 642-1011