The following questions were answered by Shannon McCall, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P, CPC, CEMC, CRC, CCDS, HCS-D, director of HIM and coding for HCPro in Middleton, Massachusetts, and Yvette DeVay, MHA, CPC, CPMA, CIC, CPC-I, lead instructor for HCPro’s Medicare Boot Camp®—Physician Services Version.
Read up on new CMS policies that expand COVID-19 care, ramp up diagnostic testing, and loosen restrictions on billing for telehealth services during the public health emergency.
All queries, regardless of their origin, are bound to follow the “ Guidelines for Achieving a Compliant Query Practice .” In order to ensure queries stand up to outside scrutiny and are effective, many CDI and inpatient coding leaders have put query audit practices in place for their departments as they bring on new team members.
Sepsis is a major challenge for patients, hospitals, and coders in America. Three articles first published online by the journal Critical Care Medicine give an update on trends in sepsis in the U.S. through Medicare beneficiary data collected between 2012 and 2018.
Practices that have experienced a shutdown or a near-shutdown during the COVID-19 national public health emergency need to adhere to state regulations for re-opening. In addition, they must consider the impact that re-opening would have on staff members and patients impacted by the pandemic.
Globally, millions of people have been infected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . There have been hundreds of thousands of confirmed COVID-19 cases, and many thousands of deaths, just in the United States
The Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) enforcement discretion statement seems to open a whole new world of options for providers and patients. However, experts have warned providers that they can still get in a lot of trouble if they are not careful about how they use technology.
Providence St. Joseph Health, which cared for the first U.S. novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patient, is sharing how the health system has responded to the crisis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is monitoring the rapid spread of a disease caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus, formally named COVID-19 . Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
Coders will find a wide range of CPT and HCPCS Level II codes that have been assigned medically unlikely edits (MUE) this year. Review new MUE values that went live January 1 for codes involving drug injections as well as E/M, radiology, and therapy services.
ICD-10-CM/PCS coding for severe and potentially fatal heart conditions such as aortic valve stenosis (AVS), heart failure (HF), and atrial fibrillation (AF) requires an in-depth understanding of anatomical terminology and clinical indications. Coders need to be able to select the most specific codes based on reported symptoms and the severity of the disease.
Prior to 1983, Medicare reimbursed based on actual charges that inpatient healthcare facilities billed (often referred to as “fee-for-service” payments). The more tests, procedures, and services ordered by physicians, the more an organization was paid. This created the potential for unnecessary or excessive services, contributing to rising healthcare costs and the possibility of depleting Medicare funds.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is monitoring the rapid spread of a novel 2019 coronavirus, formally named COVID-19, first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. On January 30, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern due to its sustained person-to-person spread within countries and across continental borders.
To enhance efforts to combat the opioid crisis in America, CMS policy allows for a new benefit under Medicare Part B concerning Opioid Treatment Programs.
As with any new clinical documentation integrity (CDI) initiative, there are many possible starting points for outpatient CDI. Review advice from healthcare professionals at Trinity Health on how to successfully implement an outpatient CDI program.
Trey La Charité, MD, FACP, SFHM, CCS, CCDS , writes about conflicting documentation and how coders and clinical documentation integrity specialists can resolve inconsistencies in provider documentation to prevent claim denials.
Prevention of the flu is important as this illness can lead to hospitalization and even death. The CDC reports the hospitalization rate due to the flu is 2.7 per every 100,000 persons, and there is a 4.8% mortality rate due to influenza and pneumonia.
Coding productivity held steady, but missing documentation and unanswered queries bog down coders, according to the results of our 2019 coding productivity survey
