Talk Ten Tuesdays

To Discharge, Or Not to Discharge: The Evolving Role of EHRs

Juliet B. Ugarte Hopkins, MD | Angela Comfort, DBA | Cheryl Ericson, RN | Christine E. Geiger, MA | Tiffany Ferguson, LMSW | Timothy Powell, CPA Season 14 Episode 632

Discharge orders have evolved. Today, they indicate the end of hospital billing for an encounter.
However, when the discharge order is placed on a day other than the day a patient actually leaves the hospital, it can often lead to under-reporting the patient’s length of stay (LOS) and other issues. And when some clinicians are told to place such an order when patients are medically ready to leave – even if there is no safe discharge plan – this forces the team to make the tough decision: to discharge or not to discharge. Thus, potential patient safety issues arise, as Dr. Juliet Ugarte Hopkins will report as the special guest during the next live edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays.
Also part of the broadcast will be these instantly recognizable panelists, who will report more news during their segments:

• Social Determinants of Health: Tiffany Ferguson, CEO for Phoenix Medical Management, Inc., will report on the news that is happening at the intersection of medical record auditing and the SDoH.

• CDI Report: Cheryl Ericson, Director of Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) for the vaunted Brundage Group, will have the latest CDI updates.

• The Coding Report: Christine Geiger, Assistant Vice President of Acute and Post-Acute Coding Services for First Class Solutions, will report on the latest coding news.

• News Desk: Timothy Powell, ICD10monitor national correspondent and regulatory expert, will anchor the Talk Ten Tuesdays News Desk.

• MyTalk: Angela Comfort, veteran healthcare subject-matter expert, will co-host the long-running and popular weekly Internet broadcast. Comfort is the assistant vice president of revenue integrity for Montefiore Health.

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