Electronic health records (EHR) provide opportunities for more efficient and effective care, yet they also provide coding and documentation challenges. Jill M. Young, CPC, CEDC, CIMC, explains what coders need to be wary of when coding from an EHR.
Leading queries are frequently a topic of discussion among coding and clinical documentation improvement professionals. Glenn Krauss, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, PCS, FCS, C-CDIS, explains how to determine what constitutes a leading query and how to craft compliant queries.
Nervous or worried about the upcoming transition to ICD-10-PCS? Don’t be. Charlotte Lane, RHIA, CCS, and Melanie Endicott, MBA/HCM, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, offer up tips to reduce your anxiety about the new coding system.
Hospitals are approximately two months into the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program that began with Medicare fee-for-service discharges on or after October 1, 2012. The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program is also well underway. Deborah K. Hale, CCS, CCDS, and Susan Wallace, Med, RHIA, CCS, CDIP, CCDS, explain the important role coded data plays in these and many other quality-of-care-related initiatives.
Every few years, the AHA publishes guidance in Coding Clinic that can significantly affect inpatient coders, such as guidance published in the Second Quarter 2012 on neoplasm coding. Randy Wagner, BSN, RN, CCS, and Paul Dickson, MD, CCS, CPC, review the new guidance and how to use the TNM cancer staging system.
Thinking about exiting the coding profession before the transition to ICD-10? Laura Legg, RHIT, CCS, enjoys coding too much to give it up and offers some tips for how to prepare for the transition.
Inpatient-only procedures are those that CMS has determined providers must perform on an inpatient basis. Kimberly Anderwood Hoy, JD, CPC, and Beverly Cunningham, MS, RN, unravel the complexities of coding for these procedures.
Patients aren’t the only ones paying attention to quality scores these days. Payers are, too. Cheryl Manchenton, RN, BSN, and Audrey G. Howard, RHIA, explain why coders and clinical documentation improvement specialists must understand which conditions affect provider profiles.
Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report compares hospital data regarding a variety of benchmarks. John Zelem, MD, FACS, and Brenda Hogan, RN, BS, explain how hospitals can use PEPPER to identify risk areas and create a plan for self-auditing.
ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM stroke and coma codes reveal many similarities and some important differences. Alice Zentner, RHIA, and James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CDIP, explain the changes and what coders need to know to prepare for ICD-10-CM stroke and coma coding.
