American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Certification Practice Exam

What classification does not consider Stage I and II pressure ulcers as hospital-acquired conditions?

1. ICD-10

2. CMS guidelines

3. AHIMA standards

4. DRG categorizations

The correct answer is: CMS guidelines

The classification that does not consider Stage I and II pressure ulcers as hospital-acquired conditions is based on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines. Under these guidelines, only Stage III and IV pressure ulcers are classified as hospital-acquired conditions. This distinction is made because Stage I and II ulcers are often deemed to be conditions that may arise from the baseline status of a patient's health and do not necessarily indicate a deterioration in care. Therefore, the absence of these lower-stage ulcers from the hospital-acquired condition category reflects a focus on more serious complications that can more clearly be attributed to the quality of care received during a hospital stay. This classification is important for hospitals when it comes to reimbursements, as they may not receive additional funding for cases involving these less severe stages of pressure ulcers and are thus incentivized to prevent only the serious ones that reflect on their care performance.