**This is part 4 of an 11 part series from Libman Education. This is good information. More Information on the query process can be found at AHIMA.org
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Physician Query Process: Part 4: Dealing With Legibility Issues And Challenging Handwriting?
by Christopher G. Richards, RHIA, CCS, Senior Associate, Barry Libman, Inc.
As part of a continuing series of discussions relevant to the coding community, Libman Education presents this 11-part series on the importance of a well implemented physician query process.
We’ve all seen this:
Handwritten and illegible entries in the patient health record are an important consideration in the query process. It is important to decide when bad handwriting rises to the level of a physician query.
In general, if your inability to read certain documentation is clearly going to impact your ability to assign an accurate code, then you need to consider a query.
From a quality of care and risk management perspective, illegible entries can:
- Cause miscommunication among clinicians about the patient’s condition
- Result in improper care and cause serious patient injury
- Raise questions of legal viability
- Easily lead to poor data quality and incorrect reimbursement
- Cause data collection, billing and reporting errors
- See more at: http://www.libmaneducation.com/physician-query-process-part-4-dealing-with-legibility-issues-and-challenging-handwriting/#sthash.uUK5SUi1.dpuf