Our coding experts answer your questions about unsuccessful foreign body removal, assigning modifier -52 for cancelled procedures, new HCPCS codes for April, reporting vaccine administration codes, new composite codes for 2012.
Learn how the ICD-10 delay will affect coders, why you shouldn't fear ICD-10 implementation, why you should review pregnancy coding guidelines, and how to motivate your coding staff.
Coders will need more information in order to code for fractures in ICD-10-CM. For instance, the physician must document which specific bone is fractured, including which side of the body. They will also need to document whether the patient is seen for an initial or subsequent visit.
Spinal conditions can be congenital, pathologic, or traumatic, and they can affect the vertebrae, spinal cord, muscles, nerves, discs, or a combination of the parts of the spine.
Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend because it’s time to dive into coding for today’s visitors to the Fix ‘Em Up Clinic. Our first patient, nine-year-old Chris, arrived with a really nasty...
A surgeon performs an open reduction of right tibia fracture for an inpatient. Which ICD-10-PCS root operation should be reported? In this case, it’s fairly easy: reposition. In a reposition...
ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS contain a significant number of new codes, which shouldn’t be news to anyone at this point. Most of the codes are longer than the current ICD-9-CM codes, which could increase...
HHS’ proposed rule announcing a one-year delay of the implementation of ICD-10-CM/PCS was printed in the April 17 edition of the Federal Register . If HHS finalizes the delay, ICD-10-CM/PCS would become effective October 1, 2014.
Unfortunately, ICD-10-PCS is not very comparable to the current ICD-9-CM volume 3 codes inpatient coders currently use. But coders shouldn’t despair, according to Sandy Nicholson, MA, RHIA, Jennifer Avery, CCS, CPC-H, CPC, CPC-I and Robert S. Gold, MD —ICD-10-PC coding may even be fun once coders get the hang of it.
Each year the number of quality measures being used for public reporting across provider settings increases. Kathy Giannangelo, MA, RHIA, CCS, CPHIMS, FAHIMA, and Linda Hyde, RHIA, explain why organizations that have not started to evaluate the impact ICD-10 will have on their quality measure data should start now.
The additions and revisions to the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting in 2012 include some new information that coders should be aware of in preparation for ICD-10-CM/PCS implementation. Sandy Nicholson, MA, RHIA, and Shelley C. Safian, PhD, MAOM/HSM, CCS-P, CPC-H, CPC-I, CHA, explore some of the biggest guideline changes.
QUESTION: How will we be able to code for procedures such as Billroth procedures, Roux-en-Y anastomoses, and Whipple’s procedure when eponyms won’t be used in ICD-10-PCS?
[caption id="attachment_2698" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Hey, look, it's a friend of Wile E.!"] [/caption] Wile E. Coyote is back in the Acme ED, this time with a broken arm, leg, pelvis...
Not all of the ICD-10-PCS root operations are complicated or confusing. Take reattachment for example. The root operation is pretty much what you would expect. The official definition of reattachment...
To correctly assign codes for any surgical procedure, coders need to have an operative (OP) report. But simply having an OP report isn’t enough. Coders also must be able to read the OP report and pick out the important information. Lynn Pegram, CPC, CEMC,CPC-I, CGSC, breaks down the OP report to help coders find the information they need.
A physician or clinical provider of care may have a completely different understanding, interpretation, and definition of medical necessity than the patient or a third-party insurance. Lori-Lynne A. Webb, CPC, CCS-P, CCP, COBGC, CHDA, explains the differences in the definition and application of the term medical necessity.
As charges become more specific to provide additional concrete and transparent cost data, providers must consider what procedures they routinely provide to patients and what procedures are specifically related to the patient's condition. Denise Williams, RN, CPC-H, and Kimberly Anderwood Hoy, JD, CPC, reveal tips for determining when to separately bill for ancillary bedside services provided to inpatients.
