Chargemaster Description Master (CDM)
The American Hospital Association and Healthcare Financial Management Association recommend that hospitals review their chargemaster annually in order to determine areas of potential risk exposure and keep pricing competitive.
Kraft Healthcare Consulting’s chargemaster services provide a detailed “scrub” and analysis of the hospital’s current CDM, identifies areas for improvement, and provides recommendations based on those findings. In addition, the chargemaster is compared to the charges for peer facilities in the community, Metropolitan Statistical Area, state, and nation.
The chargemaster review includes a detailed analysis delineated in the following reports:
| Deleted codes | CPT revenue code mismatch |
| Unlisted service or procedure | DRG charge comparison |
| Codes without AMA CPT 4 standard descriptions | APC charge comparison |
| Duplicate drugs and supplies | Comparison to ZIP Code charges |
| Price is zero or null | Comparison to MSA charges |
| CPT codes with different prices | Comparison to state charges |
| Descriptions with different prices | Comparison to national charges |
| CPT codes with different descriptions | MSA, state, and national comparison crosswalk |
| Prices below Medicare reimbursement rates | Comparison to Medicare allowable rates |
| Missing codes |
Kraft Healthcare Consulting’s team includes reimbursement and operations consultants with healthcare accounting backgrounds as well as coding and compliance consultants to help improve your revenue cycle. Our typical engagement includes an on-site meeting to present and discuss our findings with your management team. The final product for this service includes bound reports for each member of your management team and an electronic version of the information for further analysis of the data. In addition, our coding and compliance team is available to assist with ongoing CDM, billing, and coding consultations as regulations change throughout the year.