According to the 2019 coding productivity survey recently conducted by HCPro, 36% of inpatient coders indicated that they only coded an average of one to two inpatient charts per hour.
Adrienne Commeree, CPC, CPMA, CCS, CEMC, CPIP, analyzes pertinent guidelines and coding dilemmas found within Chapter 1 of the ICD-10-CM Manual: Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases. Commeree covers instructional note guidance and other chapter specific guidance for diagnoses such as sepsis and HIV. Note : To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
Q: We are finding that physician documentation is lacking for vaping-related lung injuries at our hospital, making it hard to report the condition accurately. What can our coding team do to remedy this situation, and how do we accurately report vaping-related lung injuries in ICD-10-CM?
The flu vaccine is changed each year based on the virus types that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates will be the most prevalent. Lori-Lynne Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, CHDA, CDIP, COBGC , reviews CPT and ICD-10-CM coding for this year’s flu vaccine and its administration.
The American Medical Association (AMA) recently published a checklist to help physician practices transition to the new E/M coding and documentation guidelines slated to take effect January 1, 2021.
Modifier -25 can cause frustration as it is not recognized by many payers, including Medicaid. When applying this modifier, coders must consider CPT reporting rules and adhere to potentially restrictive billing rules followed by payers. Note : To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
Q: A physician performed a pleural catheter flush using saline with manual clearance of clots under ultrasound guidance. Should we bill an E/M code for an outpatient office visit or report this using other CPT codes?
The 2020 edition of the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) Policy Manual features new guidance and clinical examples to help coders appropriately apply the -X{EPSU} modifiers debuted by CMS several years ago.
Julian Everett, RN, BSN, CDIP , reviews the background of the Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) and says that even though the report is only made available through quality or chief financial departments, it is imperative CDI and coding staff have a seat at the table when discussing areas for improvement at a facility.
Q: Our coding department was told there were changes made for fiscal year (FY) 2020 when it comes to reporting healed/healing pressure ulcers and pressure-induced deep tissue damage. Can you explain any recent updates?
