Be adaptable and ready for change if you are responsible for payer reimbursements in your healthcare organization. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced a large number of changes to diagnosis-related groups DRGs for 2018, along with changes in ICD-10-CM and PCS. Here is a quick summary of the changes.

I want to begin with a coding scenario: sepsis and pneumonia are documented, and the coder captures these conditions and assigns MS-DRG 871 and APR-DRG 720 with severity of illness (SOI) 2. Sepsis presents challenges for coders as well as clinicians. I want to provide insight into the complex molecular and cellular processes involved in the pathogenesis of sepsis.