Malnutrition continues to be an under-recognized threat to hospitalized patients, leading to increased mortality both pre- and post-discharge, according to nutrition experts. And it now appears that the awareness gap may be partly due to flaws in how clinicians code for the condition.
An analysis of 2010 data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) identified malnutrition in 3.2% of hospitalized patients in the United States (JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr