Some facilities plan to use both CPT ® and ICD-10-PCS to code procedures after implementation. Kristi Stanton, RHIT, CCS, CPC, CIRCC, and Angie Comfort, RHIT, CDIP, CCS, discuss the advantages and challenges of this strategy, and how to implement it.
Q: My office often has denials of evaluation and management (E/M) visits with our OB patients when using HCPCS modifier -GB (claim being resubmitted for payment because it is no longer covered under a global payment demonstration). Would coding with V22.2 (pregnant state, incidental) as a secondary diagnosis possibly alleviate this issue?
We’re still waiting for CMS to release the interim final rule on the new ICD-10 implementation date, but we did get some news on the ICD-10 front this week. The Office of Budget and Management...
Today I will focus on the chronological transition to ICD-10 readiness. My intent is to dispel myths and compare real-world experience in the ICD-10 planning space with the commonly disseminated...
Pneumonia is an inflammatory process that affects the lung tissue. Robert S. Gold, MD , and Shelley C. Safian, PhD, MAOM/HSM, CCS-P, CPC-H, CHA, explain the clinical and documentation pieces of pneumonia coding.
Q: I’m in a little debate: Does documentation of the patient’s body mass index (BMI) need to come from an ancillary clinician, like the dietitian or nurse? I thought that we could use such ancillary documentation for clinical indicators supporting our physician query, but the treating physician needed to document the BMI. Can you help clarify this for me?
Our good friends at the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists (ACDIS) have descended on Sin City for the seventh annual ACDIS conference. And while what happens in Vegas might...
One day after an apparent stealth announcement of the new ICD-10 compliance date, CMS confirmed October 1, 2015, as the new implementation date. According to a CMS statement: On April 1, 2014, the...
We may have a new ICD-10 implementation date…or maybe not. In the IPPS proposed rule , released April 30, CMS states on page 648, “The ICD-10-CM/PCS transition is scheduled to take place on October 1...
CMS’ 2015 IPPS proposed rule , released April 30, focuses on quality measures, such as the hospital-acquired condition (HAC) reduction, readmissions reduction, and hospital value-based purchasing (VBP) programs.
CMS’ 2015 IPPS proposed rule , released April 30, focuses on quality measures, such as the hospital-acquired condition (HAC) reduction, readmissions reduction, and hospital value-based purchasing and hospital readmissions reduction programs.
Since January, providers have been struggling to reconcile conflicts between CMS' rules and regulations and those published by the CPT® Manual and other AMA publications.
When outpatient hospitals and physicians switch to ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes October 1, they will still continue to use CPT® codes to report procedures. But some facilities are planning to use the new procedure code set, ICD-10-PCS, as well.
This month’s issue focuses on the ICD-10 implementation delay and what it means for providers and coders. Members of the Briefings on Coding Compliance Strategies, as well as Robert S. Gold, MD, offer their takes on the delay. In addition, we highlight a new concept in ICD-10-CM—principal diagnoses that act as their own CC or MCC. And we answer your coding questions.
A diabetic patient is admitted with gangrene. The physician does not specifically link the diabetes and the gangrene, but also does not document any other potential cause of the gangrene. Should you code both conditions?
When Congress passed the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, it mandated at least a one-year delay in ICD-10 implementation. Members of the Briefings on Coding Compliance Strategies editorial board, who represent a wide range of industry stakeholders, offered their thoughts on two questions related to the delay.
At the time of this publication, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 bill was recently passed. The status quo regarding physician reimbursement from Medicare has been maintained. So what? That system has been broken for 20 years. ICD-10 will be postponed for provider billing for another year. So what? Life will go on as it has for the past 36 years with ICD-9-CM. In other words, nothing has changed. We're good for another year. Pressure's off! ...Right?
