Remember those friends and family cell phone plans where you didn’t use minutes if you called people in your circle? You had to pick who you wanted in your group and they had to pick you. It was very...
CMS and the American Medical Association (AMA) may have made peace regarding ICD-10, but it seems some members of Congress didn’t get the memo. Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Tom E. Price, R-Ga...
Alas, poor urosepsis. I knew him, Horatio, a condition of infinite vagueness. And thankfully, one ICD-10-CM is putting out to pasture. Now, if only the physicians would get on board. Physicians...
People do some strange things on vacation. I mean, really, really strange things. Take Mike, for example. Mike just returned from his European vacation and has come into the Fix ‘Em Up Clinic for a...
After a vigorous, last-ditch push by the AMA for a two-year transition period after implementation to protect physicians from all ICD-CM coding errors and mistakes, CMS and AMA made a joint...
The Fourth of July is in the books for another year and once again, we saw an interesting assortment of patients in the Fix ‘Em Up Clinic over the weekend. Let’s take a look at some of the more...
We’re officially three months (okay, 91 days) away from ICD-10 implementation, so you need to give your surgeons a quick introduction to ICD-10-PCS. Do NOT try to teach them to code. That’s not the...
Jurassic World is ruling the box office, so I thought I would use another blast from the past for the blog. Archeologists in Peru recently uncovered the skeleton of a teenage girl in a historic...
Richard came in to see Dr. Guts complaining of severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and blood in his stool. Dr. Guts sends Richard for a battery of tests and discovers Richard suffers from a...
How ready are you for ICD-10? The answer might depend on the type and size of your organization. Eighty-five percent of hospitals reported training staff on ICD-10, according to a recent eHealth...
Multiple surveys have shown that physician practices are lagging behind in preparation for ICD-10. CMS recently released a Quick Start Guide that outlines five steps healthcare professionals should...
The American Medical Association (AMA) is pushing for a two-year safe harbor for physicians so the doctors won’t be penalized for “errors, mistakes, and malfunctions relating to the transition.” That...
Mary decided to take advantage of a break in the rainy weather to head out and do some bird watching. The birds, however, were in no mood to be watched. Mary first came upon a warbler nest with four...
Sometimes the logic of the American Medical Association (AMA) escapes me. Okay, most of the time, I have no idea what the people at the AMA are thinking. Take the organization’s continuing crusade to...
Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Alabama, doesn't want providers penalized for ICD-10 "errors, mistakes, and malfunctions relating to the transition" for two years after implementation. Unfortunately, it doesn't...
The Alabama state Senate passed a Joint Resolution urging Congress to delay the October 1, 2015 ICD-10 implementation. In and of itself, the resolution means very little. States cannot override the...
The American Medical Association (AMA) is trying to get a seat at the ICD-10 table by resolving to request inclusion as one of the Cooperating Parties. Mind you, today’s resolution at the AMA annual...
The AMA and Republican congressmen have been working together for quite a w hile to try and kill ICD-10, but their latest attempt shows not only desperation, but a fundamental misunderstanding of how...
We’re very excited to add a new voice to the ICD-10 Trainer blog family. I’ve (cough, cough) volunteered Steve Andrews to write for the blog. The joys of being the boss. Steve joined HCPro and...
One of the best parts of attending the Association of Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialists’ (ACDIS) 8 th Annual Conference is talking with others in the field to find out what documentation...