Overview

Because the Charge Description Master (CDM) is at the heart of every hospital’s billing and coding process, the importance of maintaining an accurate CDM is paramount to the continued success of a compliance initiative. CCI’s full-scope CDM review ensures that all charge items accurately reflect the associated services or supplies provided, and that all services and supplies are accurately depicted in the CDM.

Our in-depth review helps to ensure proper coding assignments, descriptions and prices, as well as establish an appropriate system of chargemaster maintenance and updates.

Our “interactive” approach requires a significant level of involvement from the affected ancillary departments, which we feel is crucial to developing a CDM that is customized for each organization. The review includes the determination of the proper procedure and revenue codes, descriptions and prices for all CDM items.

Each Analysis Includes

• Detailed Line Item Review
• Interviews with Department Heads
• APC Rate Comparison
• Post-Interview Follow-Up and Research
• Formal Presentation of Recommendations
• Post-Implementation Review and Audit
• Ongoing CDM Maintenance

The review is performed on a line item basis for all revenue-generating departments or cost centers, in order to ensure that only allowable, separately chargeable items remain on the active CDM. This process is particularly important for the implementation of APC’s, which can also contribute to a facility’s future financial viability.

We do not utilize generic software to handle the review, since we believe that a “hands-on” approach is necessary in order to address each organization’s unique service mix and procedural capabilities.

At the request of our clients, CCI also provides a Formal Report which cites all applicable coding manuals and regulatory references, a Post-Implementation Review and Audit which ensures that all agreed upon changes have been accurately reflected in the chargemaster and are being properly utilized, and Ongoing CDM Maintenance which includes periodic consultations and annual updates and evaluations.