Daniel E. Catalano, MD, FACOG, says that from the CDI perspective, the ability to communicate pediatric severity of illness is complicated by the fact that pediatricians have a lexicon that is not well captured in ICD-10-CM. This, he writes, is especially true for pediatric cardiology.
Many national organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control, the American Liver Foundation, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Food and Drug Administration have information and resources available to provide education and promote testing for viral hepatitis.
In ICD-10-CM, defining, diagnosing, and documenting the various forms of altered mental status and their underlying causes remains an ongoing challenge for physicians and their facilities, according to James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS, CDIP .
The Quality Payment Program proposed rule seems to bring relief to providers anticipating escalation of Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) requirements, but there are a plethora of reasons for coding professionals to start adapting their workflow for MACRA now. Note: To access this free article, make sure you first register here if you do not have a paid subscription.
Q: For a ureteroscopy intended as a procedure with a biopsy and double-J stent, if the procedure ends when only the scope was placed before a biopsy was taken, could you just code ureteroscopy instead of coding it with the biopsy and the modifier-74 (discontinued outpatient hospital/ambulatory surgery center procedure after administration of anesthesia)?
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is encouraging providers to decrease the number of cesarean section deliveries. According to Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, COBGC, CHDA, this means coders should brush up on their knowledge of how to code fetal intervention procedures for babies who are in a breech position.
When someone decides to enter the world of medical coding, they usually start off coding for obstetric and newborn charts. After coding for a month or two, the newbie coder is transitioned to low-dollar queues; usually encompassing charts $10,000 and less. Gradually, he or she works toward the medium-dollar and moderate-procedure queues between $20,000-$39,000.
As CMS and third-party payers have looked for ways to treat patients in the outpatient setting and reduce inpatient volumes, CMS has used the 2-midnight rule, in addition to other methods, to treat patients as outpatients or in observation whenever possible.
