Coders need to understand the clinical presentation of sepsis to report it accurately. Robert S. Gold, MD, and Gloryanne Bryant, RHIA, RHIT, CCS, CDIP, CCDS, review how to identify sepsis and tips for coding it in ICD-10-CM.
Providers need to be careful when reporting multiple services with status indicator J1 on the same claim. Dave Fee, MBA, reviews potential concerns with reporting multiple comprehensive APCs as well as new codes and APCs introduced in the October 2015 I/OCE update.
ICD-10 may be a new system with thousands of additional codes compared to ICD-9-CM, but that doesn’t mean it can still accurately report every clinical scenario. Robert S. Gold, MD, identifies conditions that aren’t necessarily represented by the codes available.
Providers know the drill for addressing and operationalizing CMS' annual IPPS and OPPS updates, along with the usual ICD-9-CM and CPT® coding changes. The industry has become used to CMS' timetable for releasing inpatient and outpatient proposed and final rules and knows that it has to be ready to go live with coding, billing, and operational changes October 1 and January 1, respectively.
I have been musing recently about things I've written for this journal over the past years. Hard to believe I've been doing monthly educational articles regarding the clinical aspects of coding since about 2002.
Charlotte L. Kohler, RN, CPA, CVA, CRCE-I, CPC, ACS, CHBC, discusses how modifiers -59 and -91 differ and what coders need to know to use them when reporting laboratory services.
The 2016 IPPS final rule includes many new claims-based measures for 2018 and 2019 payment determination. Shannon Newell, RHIA, CCS, provides an overview of those measures and additional changes to theHospital Value-Based Purchasing and Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction programs.
