Hospital Coding question

Scenario: A patient is admitted with pneumonia, the Creatinine is 1.2 (baseline 0.9). The doctor documents Community Acquired Pneumonia, Acute Renal Failure. The creatinine of 1.2 does not meet commonly accepted definition for Acute Renal Failure of an increase in Creatinine of 50% or more. Do you code Acute Renal Failure in the DRG coding system as a comorbidity? If not, do you query the doctor or just ignore it?

We had a RAC DRG chart requested with that case and my coding director says the coders do not second guess the doctor's diagnoses - the doc documents it and the coders code it.

Hospital coding question

This is a dilemma that hospital coders frequently encounter. If the physician clearly documents a condition, it is generally coded as such. When statements are vague or appear misleading, ideally, the coder will initiate a query to the physician. Hospital coders are held to high productivity standards, and queries are not always answered timely. The coder may elect to not code for a condition rather than code for a condition that lacks clarity.