Accurate coding and billing data is important for both providers and CMS. Jugna Shah, MPH, writes about challenges providers have faced with providing that data to CMS and what the agency can do to ease provider burden.
Q: If a physician orders a consultation for a patient who is experiencing a headache due to hypertension, which ICD-10-CM codes would be assigned? Would hypertension be coded since headache is a common sign and symptom of hypertension, or would both the headache and hypertension be coded?
CMS recently announced a delay in the anticipated system release of outpatient and inpatient quality reporting data due to the relocation of the Health Care Quality Information System Data Center responsible for the Hospital Quality Reporting programs.
CPT codes for drug administration follow a hierarchy that is unique to those procedures. Review the hierarchy in order to understand how to apply codes for any type of scenario.
Specialty groups are often able to move faster on creating guidelines for new procedures and codes than other ruling bodies. But sometimes this guidance can create conflicts between physician and facility coders. Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, COBGC, CDIP, writes about how to avoid these scenarios and come to the best resolution for providers, payers, and patients.
The AMA introduced new CPT codes for 2016 to report intracranial therapeutic interventions. Stacie L. Buck, RHIA, CCS-P, CIRCC, RCC, reviews the changes and provides examples on how to use them in a variety of procedures.
Q: Our radiation oncology department is having some angst about some updated guidance provided by CMS regarding reporting of planning services. These services are provided prior to the actual intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) service in order to know how to deliver the IMRT. We are not sure if we have been reporting this correctly.
As the healthcare industry acclimates to using ICD-10, coders can rest assured it will still be several years until ICD-11 becomes a reality. Originally pegged for a 2015 release to the World Health Assembly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has quietly pushed ICD-11’s debut to 2018.
Shannon E. McCall, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, CPC-I, CEMC, CCDS, and Peggy Blue, MPH, CPC, CEMC, CCS-P, explain when to report the new codes introduced in the 2016 CPT Manual for genitourinary procedures.
Post-traumatic stress disorder isn’t only reported for military personnel. Shelley C. Safian, PhD, RHIA, CCS-P, COC, CPC-I, AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS trainer, writes about when PTSD may be reported and which diagnosis and procedures codes should be included.
