Healthcare DIVE January 30, 2020
Shannon Muchmore

Dive Brief:

  • In the first two years diagnostic codes specific to social determinants of health were available in Medicare fee-for-service claims, they were used for only 1.4% of the total beneficiary population, according to a new report from CMS.
  • Use of the Z codes, first implemented for Medicare FFS in 2016, increased slightly from that year to 2017, the latest data available. The unique beneficiary count for Z code use was 446,171 in 2016 and went up 4.7% the following year to 467,136 people.
  • The most frequently used code was for homelessness, followed by problems related to living alone, disappearance and death of a family member, other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances and problems in relationship with spouse...

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Topics: Equity/SDOH, Health System / Hospital, HIM (Health Inf Mgmt), Insurance, Provider, RCM (Revenue Cycle Mgmt)
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