Talk Ten Tuesdays

The Association of Clinical Documentation Integrity Specialists (ACDIS) will conclude the formal agenda of its Annual Conference at the close of business next Tuesday in Chicago, but not before the preeminent Dr. James S. Kennedy reports on the highlights of the 2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Proposed Rule. Kennedy, no stranger to the Talk Ten Tuesday audience, will be the specia...

Many of you dedicated healthcare professionals no doubt often find yourselves wearing many different hats, as does Penny Jefferson, cohost of the long-running Talk Ten Tuesdays weekly national podcast. During the next live edition of the popular Internet program, Jefferson will serve as our special guest. Jefferson is expected to report on the recent guidance and enforcement from the U.S. Departme...

As federal oversight of risk adjustment and documentation practices intensifies, healthcare organizations are facing new scrutiny regarding how patient complexity is documented and reported.  Recent guidance and enforcement activity from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has placed renewed focus on risk-adjustment accuracy, defensible document...

A recent False Claims Act case is raising an important question for CDI professionals: what if the diagnosis is clinically valid, but the process behind it is challenged?  During the next live edition of the popular Talk Ten Tuesdays podcast, Dr. Robert Oubre, director of CDI and UM at St. Tammany Health System, will report on a motion for summary judgement on a case (Smith vs Mercy Health) on  ho...

Data breaches have unfortunately become a fact of life in America’s healthcare system. The next edition of the popular Talk Ten Tuesdays will focus on just the latest in a succession of such incidents, as providers scramble to determine what to do to prevent cyberattacks – and how to react when they arise, nonetheless. The popular Internet broadcast will also feature these additional instantly rec...

After two powerful segments introducing her neurodiversity coding initiative, Tami McMasters Gomez, Executive Director for the Mid-Revenue Cycle, Enterprise-Wide Coding and CDI Operations for the University of California Davis Medical Center, returns to report on how this program is unlocking untapped strengths, improving accuracy, and building a more resilient health information (HIM) workforce....

The rise of third-party payer audits is no secret to healthcare professionals and facilities, but one type of audit has gained particular attention in recent years: the clinical validation audit.  Clinical validation audits ultimately lead to a downgrade of a hospital’s diagnostic-related group (DRG) payment, but the process by which they reach that result makes them particularly curious.  During...

It’s huge, and serious. Its implications may impact millions, even beyond the halls of healthcare. In fact, it’s the eighth-largest healthcare-related cybersecurity breach in U.S. history. In Texas alone, 15.4 million residents were involved – nearly half the state’s population. Oregon reports another 10.5 million. Other states are still notifying residents. The final number may climb even higher....

Part II of the groundbreaking Talk Ten Tuesday series concludes as Tami McMasters Gomez returns to share the real-world impact of UC Davis Health’s neurodiversity coding internship. In this powerful follow-up, Tami moves beyond the vision and into outcomes — workforce transformation, productivity gains, retention success, and the measurable value of inclusive hiring in HIM. This isn’t a theory. It...

Once a relic symbolic of earlier times in medicine, the Inpatient-Only (IPO) List has been added to the junkyard of outdated medical processes and practices. And if you and your team fail to plan and align your system appropriately, you risk major financial, operational, and compliance consequences. The good news: during the next live edition of Monitor Mondays, you’ll learn why inpatient status i...

What if the solution to healthcare’s coding workforce challenges has been hiding in plain sight? The conversation doesn’t end with rethinking who can succeed in medical coding. In Part II of this special Talk Ten Tuesday series, the focus is on how healthcare organizations can get involved . This broadcast will highlight a growing partnership with the American Health Information Management Associa...

What if the solution to healthcare’s coding workforce challenges has been hiding in plain sight? During this special two-part Talk Ten Tuesday series, UC Davis Health shares how an innovative neurodiversity-focused coding internship is redefining how talent is identified, trained, and retained.  Join Tami McMasters Gomez, Executive Director, for the Mid-Revenue Cycle, Enterprise-Wide Coding and CD...

While many of you might have been enjoying the holiday season, the beat of healthcare keeps on beating. Much has happened in the world of medical coding and that is why the producers of Talk Ten Tuesday are dedicating the next live edition of the popular national Internet broadcast to the topic of coding. And that’s why Dr. James S. Kennedy, a trained medical professional who loves coding, will be...

What’s new when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) and coding? Listen to the next edition of the long-running and popular Talk Ten Tuesday and learn from longtime RACmonitor and ICD10monitor contributing author Sharon Easterling. Sharon Easterling will continue her editorial series on artificial intelligence and medical record coding. The potential for AI in health information is both exciti...

Are you wondering what connects the nouns in the headline together? It’s a Medicare cognitive screening devise. Look at these words and commit them to memory. Try to repeat back this list of words twice a day, from memory: Apple, Chair, Ocean, Book, and Clock.   During the next live edition of the popular Talk Ten Tuesday live Internet broadcast, Gloryanne Bryant will report on what  some medical...

Anyone who has been working within the scope of hospital case/utilization management for any period of time has heard of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Participation. But are you familiar with the CMS Conditions for Coverage?  Sometimes referred to as “conditions of payment,” these requirements must be met in order for federal health plans to pay a healthcare fa...

They were once called “clinical documentation improvement” specialists, charged with correcting the medical record to identify an overlooked diagnosis that carried the potential to increase revenue. Later, the description was changed to clinical documentation “integrity” (CDI) specialists .  But that was then. This is now. Today, the job description continues to change. CDI professionals are being...

Since 80 percent of a person’s health is influenced by factors outside of medical care, it is critical that a healthcare system has an understanding and appreciation for the circumstances of patients’ daily lives that impact their health outcomes, referred to as the social determinants of health (SDoH).  During the next live edition of Talk Ten Tuesday, Lauren Montwill, Vice President of Community...

It’s often said that “words matter.” And hospital patient status assignment is no exception.  What do your teams say when a patient is in inpatient status which isn’t supported?  How about the reverse: when a patient is in outpatient status with observation services. Can your team change to inpatient?  Words matter, and Dr. Juliet Ugarte Hopkins, chief medical officer for Phoenix Medical Managemen...

A new version of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, has been introduced. The new revision aligns the organ dysfunction measurement in critically ill adults with current clinical practices, especially those diagnosed with sepsis. Published Oct. 29 in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and is available here https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2840822...

Welcome to “Is Ambient Listening Right for You?” Or, in the alternative, “Free AI Tools and Other Expensive Mistakes.” Nick van Terheyden, MD, the special guest during the next live edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays, says he has seen enough of artificial intelligence (AI) “helpers” turn doctors into unpaid editors and part-time exorcists for hallucinating software. “Clinicians signed up to heal humans,...

H.R. 1, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), is set to reshape hospital finances by cutting an estimated $840 billion from Medicaid and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) funding. As hospitals absorb these losses, many are tightening budgets, reducing staff, and facing renewed labor tensions. For the first time, clinical documentation integrity (CDI) teams are part of t...

Have you been told that Medicare and Medicare Advantage (MA) patients who have difficulties with activities of daily living (ADLs) are appropriate for inpatient status if their hospital stay crosses a second midnight?  What direction have you received about “discharge effectuation?”  Are your physicians keen on placing the majority of their patients into inpatient status because they want to preve...

Join us this coming Tuesday, Oct. 14, when Talk Ten Tuesday will bring you an exclusive interview with two nationally recognized healthcare leaders: Thea Campbell and Mackenzie Higgins. Thea Campbell is the 2026 AHIMA President-Elect and Mackenzie Higgins is the 2025 AHIMA Emerging Star award recipient. The popular broadcast will also feature these instantly recognizable panelists, who will report...

The revenue cycle helps keep hospital revenue flowing. But sometimes, it seems to sputter out, as if not all the cylinders are firing. And that is why the producers of Talk Ten Tuesdays have invited longtime ICD10monitor editorial consultant Dennis Jones, senior director of revenue cycle at the famed Jefferson Health, to be the special guest during the next live edition of the weekly Internet radi...