The AMA added five new nuclear medicine codes to the radiology section of the 2013 CPT Manual , while revising and deleting a number of codes that represented outdated technology or were bundled into placement procedures.
Researcher Bill Rudman, PhD, RHIA, says he didn't fully understand the implications of codes that coders assign until he was sitting around a table with several criminal justice officials who said that coded data helps reduce violent crimes and recidivism.
Physician documentation must reflect severity of illness and risk of mortality for all patients. Robert S. Gold, MD, and Valerie Bica, BSN, RN, CPN, explain why pediatric patients require special attention in terms of clinical documentation improvement specialists.
Genetic screening is often used to detect abnormal genes or possible fetal anomalies during antepartum care. Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, COBGC, reviews some of the most common genetic tests and what diagnosis codes to report.
MS-DRGs won’t change much in the first year after the transition to ICD-10, but hospitals still need to understand the details of the transition. Janice Bonazelli and Dwan Thomas Flowers, MBA, RHIA, CCS, explain how to use the draft ICD-10 MS-DRG Definitions Manual to prepare for MS-DRGs in ICD-10.
In November 2011, the FDA approved transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) to treat aortic valve stenosis for those patients who are not candidates for traditional open-heart surgery. This procedure is also referred to as a transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).
The ICD-9-CM guidelines state that it's unusual for two or more diagnoses to meet the definition of principal diagnosis. However, coders know this isn't exactly true, as the scenario tends to occur frequently.
Coders should avoid reporting signs and symptoms as the principal diagnosis when possible. However, that’s not always possible. William E. Haik, MD, FCCP, CDIP, reviews the ICD-9-CM principal diagnosis selection guidelines and when coders should report signs and symptoms as the principal diagnosis.
ICD-10-CM includes separate chapters for diseases of the eye and diseases of the ear, a change from ICD-9-CM, where both diseases are included in the nervous system codes. Shelley C. Safian, PhD, CCS-P, CPC-H, CPC-I, explains how the ICD-10-CM codes for diseases of the eyes and ears are similar to and different from ICD-9-CM codes.
Physicians, especially ED physicians, need to start paying attention to how their documentation affects the facility. Glenn Krauss, BBA, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPUR, C-CDI, CCDS, and Bernadette Larson, CPMA, discuss how documentation in the ED affects medical necessity and inpatient coding.
