Often times its been observed that coders and physicians speak two different languages
. As such, its important for your organization to use a comprehensive physical query form. A physician query is basically a method of communication used by medical coders to request clarification of patient diagnosis or procedures from the physician. The purpose of this policy is to enhance physician documentation and coders understanding of unique clinical situations.
This documentation that physicians provide is most of the times non-specific to the coding classification systems and does not always allow codes to capture patient severity, acuity and correct reimbursement. Sometimes the physicians create their own terminology that is not part of the coding world or not part of the ICD-9-CM. This is the reason why they must be asked for clarification.
What a query form should ask:
Find out which scenarios toask .
Keep your language simple and informative.
Pay attention to question format and wording.
Avoid over-querying by developing a policy to address the who, what, when, and how of the question.
Think about concurrent questions for increased efficiency.
Track and audit your queries for additional information.
If you want to get the latest pertaining to a proper physician query and know about the physician query process, sign up for an audio conference and get to know everything that you need to know be it when you should or shouldnt query. The best part of such a conference is that even if you miss out on one, there are CDs and MP3s to take you through an event.