With a new year underway, providers likely need to get a handle on some key new modifiers, as well as important changes to an existing modifier and the deletion of a modifier that previously raised a lot of questions and operational concerns.
The focus for clinical documentation improvement (CDI) specialists has historically been on the inpatient hospital stay. Review of the chart for conditions that are not fully documented and/or evidence of conditions not documented at all has been standard practice.
by Stacie L. Buck, RHIA, CCS-P, CIRCC, RCC One area of CPT coding that saw big changes for 2017 is for dialysis circuit coding. The existing codes have all been deleted, and new codes have been...
Managers should not assume that they can review every guideline, every item in Coding Clinic , or every coding-related issue targeted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) or Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC).
As it does each year, CMS reviewed its packaging policies and proposed numerous modifications for 2017, finalizing a move to conditionally package at the claim level and deleting the controversial modifier used to identify separately reportable laboratory tests.
Each year, CMS reviews procedures on the inpatient-only list, which consists of services typically provided on inpatients and not payable under the OPPS, to consider whether they are being performed safely and consistently in outpatient departments.
CMS made certain concessions from its proposed site-neutral payment policies required by Section 603 of the Bipartisan Budget Act, but it is still moving forward with implementation January 1, 2017, according to the 2017 OPPS final rule.
