Explanation
A drastic drop in the physician query rate might indicate to the CDI manager that the CDI staff need education on identifying query opportunities. The physician query rate is a metric that measures the percentage of records that have at least one query sent by the CDI staff to clarify or improve the documentation. A high query rate may reflect a high level of documentation quality issues or a high level of CDI staff vigilance and expertise. A low query rate may reflect a low level of documentation quality issues or a low level of CDI staff awareness and competence 2. Therefore, a drastic drop in the query rate could suggest that the CDI staff are missing some query opportunities or are not following the query policies and procedures. The CDI manager should investigate the reasons for the drop and provide education and feedback to the CDI staff on how to identify and address query opportunities effectively and compliantly 3.
References: 1: AHIMA CDIP Exam Prep, Fourth Edition, p. 133 4 2: Understanding CDI Metrics - AHIMA 2 3: The Natural History of CDI Programs: A Metric-Based Model 5