Documentation Overview: Verras analyzes one, two or three years of hospital data to determine if coding and/or documentation inadequacies are inappropriately decreasing the hospital’s DRG reimbursement rates or quality outcomes. The analysis employs comparisons of medical records coding and physicians’ documentation proficiencies against a national benchmark.

Documentation Rx: When the Sherlock analysis identifies opportunities for improved medical staff documentation in the Overview phase, the hospital may wish to engage Verras as a participant in a physician education effort. This involves Verras clinicians abstracting an appropriate number of records to document exact error and/or omissions, and then communicating the observed problems to the hospital’s physicians and medical records staff in an educational forum.

Documentation and Coding Clinics: In some instances the Documentation Overview analysis may indicate that the hospital’s medical records coders may benefit from the assistance of professional coding experts to audit and enhance their coding practices. Verras and its strategic partner of professional coding instructors provide this service in coordinated medical records and physician education workshops.