Journal of ACDIS Maryland Chapter, June 2017 Page 1 of 7

June 2017

National ACDIS Conference

Our local Maryland ACDIS members, 38 in all, plus

another 40 or so from the DC area, were well represented

in Vegas at the10th annual National ACDIS conference. It

was great to see so many familiar faces. There were

many bonding moments – on the plane, during lunch, at

the slot machines, and at our group dinner at the famous

Wolf Gang Puck. But the highlight was our fabulous

display at the Chapter Spirit lunch on Thursday.

Upcoming Events

Next MD ACDIS meeting

NOTE: Bimonthly meeting

date change below:

June 30th, 2017

1:00 – 3:00 PM

Maryland Hospital

Association

Maryland ACDIS

Leadership Team

Olga Firstbrook

President

Andrea Norris

Vice President

Jill Kirchoffner

Membership Liaison

Tiffany Murriel

Education Coorinator

Kyle Jossi

Secretary

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Maryland ACDIS took up 4 tables! Candace Blankenship and Leslie Berry designed and

arranged an amazing table display accompanied by Maryland themed table

decorations provided by Olga Firstbrook: black-eyed susan floral displays in Old Bay

boxes… much behind the scenes work went into this masterpiece. Words would never do

it justice, only a photo can capture it!

Friday morning, Olga Firstbrook received an email from Denise Applefeld with the

following comment from the CDI Strategies newsletter: "If you are attending the

conference this week, please visit the local chapter section of the ACDIS website to see

what your local chapter leaders had planned. (Be sure to reach out to local leaders via

the ACDIS App too.) The Utah chapter filled balloon letters to represent their state. The

South Carolina and Florida chapters brough inflatible palm trees. Maryland ACDIS chapter

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brought handmade lettering and the most amazing configuration of imaginative table

decorations we've ever seen.

Additionally, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge our very own Mark Dominesey

and Candace Blakenship for representing MD as ACDIS presenters… they were awesome;

you both made us very proud – KUDOS!!!!!!!

I think we would all agree that one of the highlights of the conference was the performance by

Z Dogg MD. If you've never experienced one of his videos, you can find them on YouTube and his

website zdoggmd.com Very entertaining!

Mark Dominesey

Risk Adjustment in the Inpatient Setting

Candace Blankenship

Let's Play APR-DRG

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As you can see we had great representation, great speakers, and a great time!

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Continuing discussion of the Palliative care exclusion.

Thank you to Candace Blankenship for

contacting Justin Ziombra to clarify the palliative

MHAC exclusion status. On April 25th, the HSCRC

sent a final MHAC memo to the CFO's that

stated palliative care would continue to be a

global exclusion for MHAC but it did not address

the POA status.

In October of 2016, the grouper was changed

for palliative care coding. Prior to this change,

the palliative code did not require an edit for

POA. After the October 2016 version 34 was

installed, the palliative code began to require

an edit to define it as POA or not. When

palliative POA or palliative not POA is entered in version 34, it does not exclude MHAC

when you compute your scores. As Justin states in his email, the palliative exclusion

happens as a separate process at HSCRC.

Here is Justin's response: Palliative care will remain a global exclusion this year (2018).

This doesn’t have to do with the grouper so much as it’s baked into the payment policy

designed by the HSCRC. Starting next year, at a minimum, palliative care cases that

are marked POA will be excluded due to the way the logic will be constructed by 3M in

their version 35 of the grouper (which the state will likely use in 2019). What’s unclear at

this point is whether the HSCRC will exclude all palliative care cases (whether POA or

not) as part of next year’s payment policy. If it doesn’t continue this exemption, then

only those cases that are marked POA will be excluded. If it continues the exemption,

then whether a case is POA or not will be irrelevant from an MHAC designation

standpoint.

National ACDIS Contact Update No big change this time! Angie Minks is still our contact however her last name has

changed to Herrin. aherrin@hcpro.com, 800-650-6787 x 8124

Questions, Tips, and Comments From Our Members

From Lorraine Rimando – Suburban Hospital lrimand1@jhmi.edu

Have other hospitals had any experience with the HCPro "Mastering Clinical Concepts in

CDI Boot Camp?" Or experiences with other HCPro Boot Camps? They are looking for off

campus CDI education opportunities.

Journal of ACDIS Maryland Chapter, June 2017 Page 6 of 7

Good & Welfare

You’re donations DO make a difference! Julie Mitchell presented a monetary gift to

Welcome One Emergency Shelter on behalf of MD ACDIS. Thank you MD ACDIS for your

generous donations!

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Job Openings

University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center

CDI Specialist – Remote (req# 39636)

http://careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_uofmarylandmedsys/external/gateway.

do?functionName=viewFromLink&jobPostId=68568&localeCode=en-us Or visit

www.UMMSCareers.org and search by the req #.