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October 2020    Volume 1 Issue 7
Health Law Connections

Compliance Corner—OIG Malnutrition Audits Confound Compliance—Time to Act

  • October 01, 2020
  • Paul Belton, RHIA, MHA, MBA, JD, LLM , Stanford HealthCare and Sharp HealthCare
  • James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS , CDIMD
Analyzing Plans

When will we begin to take malnutrition documentation and International Classification of Disease, 10th Edition, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) coding seriously?

For the fourth time in the past five years, on July 13, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported its audit results involving ICD-10-CM coding practices for severe malnutrition.1 This latest report should be addressed immediately by compliance professionals and legal, clinical documentation integrity (CDI), and coding departments to mitigate its significant compliance and financial risks to all enterprises.

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