When Quality Rankings Are Misleading
“Quality rankings” are often oxymoronic. My local paper recently had a headline asking “Does your clinic measure up? Check Minnesota’s quality rankings.” The paper proceeded to report
“Quality rankings” are often oxymoronic. My local paper recently had a headline asking “Does your clinic measure up? Check Minnesota’s quality rankings.” The paper proceeded to report
This week I want to follow up on two viruses I didn’t cover in my last article. The first is H5N1, also known as bird
Dear Fellow Colleague: National Doctors’ Day is Sunday, March 30, 2025. And even though the one-day observance is several days away, we here at MedLearn
EDITOR’S NOTE: Senior healthcare consultant Cheryl Ericson reported this story live today during Monitor Mondays. Ericson is the director of clinical documentation integrity (CDI) and
I know you are wondering, so I am happy to report that I just went a whole week without watching a webinar. But luckily, I
So far, 2025 has offered no shortage of healthcare challenges, opportunities, and uncertainties. Today I want to start with viruses. Four viruses have attracted attention
While we’ve obviously got some big news coming out of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today I wanted to give you
Following President Trump’s move into the Oval Office and his administration getting set up in the federal agencies, we’ve seen unprecedented movement on certain legislative
The temporary disappearance of key public data sets, including the Atlas Tool and the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, has raised significant concerns among data
With the 2025 legislative sessions in full swing by this point, I wanted to give everyone a glance at one of the hottest topics in
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the healthcare industry, bringing significant advancements in clinical applications, patient care, and administrative efficiency. However, while much of the discussion
The announcement recently by Chinese’s DeepSeek of a low-cost, open-source large language model (LLM) akin to ChatGPT marks a significant milestone in the development of

Stay ahead of the 2026-2027 audit surge with “Top 10 Audit Targets for 2026-2027 for Hospitals & Physicians: Protect Your Revenue,” a high-impact webcast led by Michael Calahan, PA, MBA. This concise session gives hospitals and physicians clear insight into the most likely federal audit targets, such as E/M services, split/shared and critical care, observation and admissions, device credits, and Two-Midnight Rule changes, and shows how to tighten documentation, coding, and internal processes to reduce denials, recoupments, and penalties. Attendees walk away with practical best practices to protect revenue, strengthen compliance, and better prepare their teams for inevitable audits.

As AI reshapes healthcare compliance, the risk of biased outputs and opaque decision-making grows. This webcast, led by Frank Cohen, delivers a practical Four-Pillar Governance Framework—Transparency, Accountability, Fairness, and Explainability—to help you govern AI-driven claim auditing with confidence. Learn how to identify and mitigate bias, implement robust human oversight, and document defensible AI review processes that regulators and auditors will accept. Discover concrete remedies, from rotation protocols to uncertainty scoring, and actionable steps to evaluate vendors before contracts are signed. In a regulatory landscape that moves faster than ever, gain the tools to stay compliant, defend your processes, and reduce liability while maintaining operational effectiveness.

Get clear, practical answers to Medicare’s most confusing regulations. Join Dr. Ronald Hirsch as he breaks down real-world compliance challenges and shares guidance your team can apply right away.

Federal auditors are zeroing in on Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) and hospital rehab unit services, with OIG and CERT audits leading to millions in penalties—often due to documentation and administrative errors, not quality of care. Join compliance expert Michael Calahan, PA, MBA, to learn the five clinical “pillars” of IRF-PPS admissions, key documentation requirements, and real-life case lessons to help protect your revenue.

Accurately determining the principal diagnosis is critical for compliant billing, appropriate reimbursement, and valid quality reporting — yet it remains one of the most subjective and error-prone areas in inpatient coding. In this expert-led session, Cheryl Ericson, RN, MS, CCDS, CDIP, demystifies the complexities of principal diagnosis assignment, bridging the gap between coding rules and clinical reality. Learn how to strengthen your organization’s coding accuracy, reduce denials, and ensure your documentation supports true medical necessity.

Denials continue to delay reimbursement, increase administrative burden, and threaten financial stability across healthcare organizations. This essential webcast tackles the root causes—rising payer scrutiny, fragmented workflows, inconsistent documentation, and underused analytics—and offers proven, data-driven strategies to prevent and overturn denials. Attendees will gain practical tools to strengthen documentation and coding accuracy, engage clinicians effectively, and leverage predictive analytics and AI to identify risks before they impact revenue. Through real-world case examples and actionable guidance, this session empowers coding, CDI, and revenue cycle professionals to shift from reactive appeals to proactive denial prevention and revenue protection.

Sepsis remains one of the most frequently denied and contested diagnoses, creating costly revenue loss and compliance risks. In this webcast, Angela Comfort, DBA, MBA, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, provides practical, real-world strategies to align documentation with coding guidelines, reconcile Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 definitions, and apply compliant queries. You’ll learn how to identify and address documentation gaps, strengthen provider engagement, and defend diagnoses against payer scrutiny—equipping you to protect reimbursement, improve SOI/ROM capture, and reduce audit vulnerability in this high-risk area.

Only ICD10monitor delivers what you need: updates on must-know changes associated with the FY26 IPPS, including new ICD-10-CM/PCS codes, CCs/MCCs, and MS-DRGs, plus insights, analysis and answers to your questions from two of the country’s most respected subject matter experts.
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