The Impact of Coding on Maternal Outcomes

April 25th, 2022 - Kristi Pollard, RHIT, CCS, CPC, CIRCC, AHIMA-Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer

Categories: Coding

This area of coding is not so easy.

While most maternal deaths are preventable, the rate has been increasing in the United States since 2000. As a matter of fact, the U.S. has twice as many maternal deaths than other high-income countries.

To reverse this trend, The Joint Commission, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) are focusing on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) measure of severe maternal morbidity (SMM). This measure is also a key metric used by state Perinatal Quality Collaboratives, in partnership with the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM), a national (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HHS) data-driven maternal safety and quality improvement initiative. AIM has developed national safety bundles (e.g. hemorrhage, hypertension, reducing primary Cesarean delivery) with the goal of reducing SMM and preventable maternal deaths in the U.S.

In late 2022/early 2023, The Joint Commission, together with CMS, will be introducing a risk-adjusted version of SMM (PC-07) suitable for all hospitals with maternity services. AIM hospital data is currently collected on a state-by-state basis. In some states, the local AIM initiative is coordinated by the state hospital association; in other states, multi-stakeholder quality improvement organizations have taken the lead. The quality indicators used by the AIM program are often based on ICD-10 codes; some of the AIM quality indicators are also utilized in The Joint Commission’s perinatal core measure set.

The SMM rate identifies women during the birth hospitalization that experience any of the following severe complications:

Acute myocardial infarction
Aneurysm
Acute renal failure
Adult respiratory distress syndrome
Amniotic fluid embolism
Cardiac arrest/ventricular fibrillation
Conversion of cardiac rhythm
Disseminated intravascular coagulation
Eclampsia
Heart failure/arrest during surgery or procedure
Puerperal cerebrovascular disorders
Pulmonary edema/acute heart failure
Severe anesthesia complications
Sepsis
Shock
Sickle cell disease with crisis
Air and thrombotic embolism
Blood products transfusion
Hysterectomy
Temporary tracheostomy
Ventilation

...

Read the entire article at ICD10monitor by clicking here.

This article originally published on October 18, 2021 by ICD10monitor.

###

Questions, comments?

If you have questions or comments about this article please contact us. Comments that provide additional related information may be added here by our Editors.

Latest articles: (any category)

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare - A Medical Coder's Perspective
December 26th, 2023 - Aimee Wilcox

We constantly hear how AI is creeping into every aspect of healthcare but what does that mean for medical coders and how can we better understand the language used in the codeset? Will AI take my place or will I learn with it and become an integral part of the process that uses AI to enhance my abilities?

Specialization: Your Advantage as a Medical Coding Contractor
December 22nd, 2023 - Find-A-Code

Medical coding contractors offer a valuable service to healthcare providers who would rather outsource coding and billing rather than handling things in-house. Some contractors are better than others, but there is one thing they all have in common: the need to present some sort of value proposition in order to land new clients. As a contractor, your value proposition is the advantage you offer. And that advantage is specialization.

ICD-10-CM Coding of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
December 19th, 2023 - Aimee Wilcox

Chronic respiratory disease is on the top 10 chronic disease list published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Although it is a chronic condition, it may be stable for some time and then suddenly become exacerbated and even impacted by another acute respiratory illness, such as bronchitis, RSV, or COVID-19. Understanding the nuances associated with the condition and how to properly assign ICD-10-CM codes is beneficial.

Changes to COVID-19 Vaccines Strike Again
December 12th, 2023 - Aimee Wilcox

According to the FDA, CDC, and other alphabet soup entities, the old COVID-19 vaccines are no longer able to treat the variants experienced today so new vaccines have been given the emergency use authorization to take the place of the old vaccines. No sooner was the updated 2024 CPT codebook published when 50 of the codes in it were deleted, some of which were being newly added for 2024.

Updated ICD-10-CM Codes for Appendicitis
November 14th, 2023 - Aimee Wilcox

With approximately 250,000 cases of acute appendicitis diagnosed annually in the United States, coding updates were made to ensure high-specificity coding could be achieved when reporting these diagnoses. While appendicitis almost equally affects both men and women, the type of appendicitis varies, as dose the risk of infection, sepsis, and perforation.

COVID Vaccine Coding Changes as of November 1, 2023
October 26th, 2023 - Wyn Staheli

COVID vaccine changes due to the end of the PHE as of November 1, 2023 are addressed in this article.

Medicare Guidance Changes for E/M Services
October 11th, 2023 - Wyn Staheli

2023 brought quite a few changes to Evaluation and management (E/M) services. The significant revisions as noted in the CPT codebook were welcome changes to bring other E/M services more in line with the changes that took place with Office or Other Outpatient Services a few years ago. As part of CMS’ Medicare Learning Network, the “Evaluation and Management Services Guide” publication was finally updated as of August 2023 to include the changes that took place in 2023. If you take a look at the new publication (see references below),....