Think sepsis, write sepsis, code sepsis – patient characteristics associated with sepsis (under-)coding in administrative health data
Sepsis coding in administrative data is frequently inaccurate. Explicit naming of sepsis and severity markers strongly influence correct coding. As Germany introduces mandatory sepsis quality assurance in 2026, targeted interventions - including enhanced clinician documentation and electronic coding support - are essential to improve coding reliability and patient care.
Authors
- Patrick Meybohm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2666-8696)
- Markus Heim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6754-2494)
- Kai Zacharowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0212-9110)
- Götz Schmidt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2346-4265)
- Christian Koch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2655-7363)
- Daniel Schwarzkopf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1568-8202)
- Heike Dorow
- Claudia Spies (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1062-0495)
- Dominique Ouart
- Michael Nordine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5510-0776)
- Simone Lindau
- Daniel Thomas‐Rüddel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9143-8566)
- Gerhard Schneider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4903-0118)
- Carolin Fleischmann-Struzek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1104-3191)
- Andreas Edel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9951-7223)
- Christian Putensen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1599-9809)
- Michael Sander (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1677-3609)
- Jürgen Götz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8501-7896)
- Jens‐Christian Schewe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6408-0607)
- Matthias Gründling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8043-7293)
- Falk A. Gonnert
- Norman Rose (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-205X)
- Ferdinand Steinsberger
- Sebastian Zinn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1052-3828)
- Peter Schlattmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7420-7707)
- Christopher W. Tam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6183-5971)
- Kirill Holbeck
- Christian Künzer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8000-3233)
- Khanh Le Ngoc
- Ngoc B. Mehlmann
- Konrad Reinhart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2324-5444)
- Holger Neb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9909-5083)
- Ulrich Jaschinski
- Beate Boden
Institutions
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Albert Einstein College of Medicine (US)
- Montefiore Medical Center (US)
- Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (DE)
- Universitätsmedizin Greifswald (DE)
- University Hospital Bonn (DE)
- University Hospital Augsburg (DE)
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- SRH Wald-Klinikum Gera (DE)
- Universitätsklinikum Würzburg (DE)
- Klinikum Lippe (DE)
- University Hospital Frankfurt (DE)
- Jena University Hospital (DE)
- University Hospital Cologne (DE)
- University of Rostock (DE)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Infection
- Published
- 2025-12-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-025-02685-8
- Primary Topic
- Medical Coding and Health Information
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00