Providers will continue to use the same definition of inpatient status that they already know. That’s because despite CMS’ consideration of various provider comments, the agency has not establish new criteria.
Our coding experts answer your questions about observation orders, sequencing additional diagnoses, coding for wound care with no-cost skin substitute, and reporting cardiac rehabilitation and physical therapy together.
Organizations looking for real-world examples of ICD-10 education can check out the plan created by Ginger Boyle, MD, of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in South Carolina.
Hospitals are overturning Recovery Auditor denials nearly 75% of the time, according to recent RACTrac data. That’s why the American Hospital Association adamantly supports a new proposed bill—the Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2012 —aimed at holding Recovery Auditors accountable for inappropriate denials.
Although hospital infection rates continue to decline, Medicare payment penalties are not the cause, according to the New England Journal of Medicine article titled Effect of Nonpayment for Preventable Infections in U.S. Hospitals .
Every few years, the AHA publishes guidance in Coding Clinic that can significantly affect inpatient coders. Coding Clinic , Second Quarter 2012, includes such guidance.
Providers are beginning to see some translation of CMS’ National Coverage Determinations (NCD) for ICD-10 with the release of Transmittal R1122OTN and Medlearn Matters Article MM7818 .
